John R. P. French on Life

"The phenomena of power and influence involve a dyadic relation between two agents which may be viewed from two points of view: What determines the behavior of the agent who exerts power? What determines the reactions of the recipient of this behavior? We take this second point of view and formulate our theory in terms of the life space of P, the person upon whom the power is exerted. In this way we hope to define basic concepts of power which will be adequate to explain many of the phenomena of social influence, including some which have been described in other less genotypic terms."