A
power structure is an overall system of influence relationships between any individual and every other individual within any selected group of people. A description of a power structure would capture the way in which
power or
authority is distributed between people within groups such as a government, nation, institution, organization, or a society. Such structures are of interest to various fields, including
sociology,
government,
economics, and
business. A power structure may be formal and intentionally constructed to maximize values like
fairness or
efficiency, as in a
hierarchical organization wherein every entity, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity. Conversely, a power structure may be an informal set of roles, such as those found in a
dominance hierarchy in which members of a social group interact, often aggressively, to create a ranking system. A culture that is organised in a dominance hierarchy is a
dominator culture, the opposite of an egalitarian culture of partnership. A visible, dominant group or elite that holds power or authority within a power structure is often referred to as being
the Establishment. Powers structures are fluid, with change occurring constantly, either slowly or rapidly, evolving or revolutionary, peacefully or violently.