Theorising Empowerment Thought: Illuminating the Relationship between Ideology and Politics in the Contemporary Era

One response to the on-going crisis of profitability, East and West, has been to alter the form and content of supervisory relationships at work and in the community. The 1990s have been described as the empowerment era. A paradox exists however in that the idea of empowerment appeals to the rich and powerful and the poor and powerless. It is both liberatory and regulative. In this article the ideological polarity of empowerment is investigated in the context of the management of change in the workplaces of large private sector organisations and public sector welfare in Britain. It is argued that the growth of the idea of empowerment is central to politics in the contemporary era.