The ‘Power Spotting’ Field Trip took us to the City of London to identify different types and dimensions of power. The City of London, central and historic holds most of Britain’s financial services sector. It has been used as a trading centre since Roman times and has been important in economic growth. Since the 1990s, the financial services sector has played an increasingly significant role in the English economy and the City of London is one of the world’s largest financial centres. This is a great place for power spotting as it is the centre for the power elite and has dominated finance for more than 500yrs. It holds significant power institutions all within very close proximity of each other, such as the central bank, the Bank of England established in 1694 and a considerable amount of international trade could be possible through the London Stock Exchange which was later established. During the tour we also visited other institutions such as the Lloyd’s of London, St Mary Axe, Guildhall, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern.
Power spotting in the City of London is no hard task. In order for this trip to be successful I had to find out what power really means. According to Hayward, power is the ‘ability to achieve a desired outcome’. (Hayward, A. 2000) It is the way in which A exercises power over B. In his book, Lukes describes power as having three dimensions: decision-making, agenda setting and thought control. Throughout my journey through the City of London I came to see all three of these dimensions. Just looking around the buildings you see the incredible height and thick impenetrable walls of the old buildings which were designed for maximum security, to keep thieves out. This portrays Hobbes views on the State of Nature that humans are necessarily and exclusively self-interested. People pursue only what they want or need and life without authority would result in conflict, war and no morality. As well as fear of robbery, the other great threat to a bank is forgery. Until 1832, this was strongly discouraged by hanging the forgers.
Continuing with the Bank of England, I asked myself why this was such a significant political building? After researching, I found that the bank which was originally a private bank contracted to lend the British government money when it was in a financial crisis. It raised private funds to support the navy to capture areas in the world and to colonize. It brought monetary and financial stability. The Bank is now in charge of the decisions over interest rates; here we can see the third dimension of power which is thought control. When the government was in a financial crisis they would have to resort in asking the bank for a loan which meant that it had a power over them which create a sense of powerlessness of the government.
In the 17th Century, London’s growing significance as a trade centre led to an increasing demand for ship and cargo insurance. Lloyd’s of London is the world’s oldest known insurance and reinsurance market. During this time communications were unreliable, Lloyd’s gained a reputation for trustworthy shipping news. This ensured that Lloyd’s became recognised as the place for obtaining both information and marine insurance. It insured the ships which were involved in the slave trade. The Lloyd’s Act 1871 gave Lloyd’s a legal basis allowing it to obtain property and make by-laws backed with the authority of Parliament. The Elitist theory of power says that in all societies and political organisations there exists a small group of ruling elite which make political decisions for us and monopolizes power.
For Marxists, the source of power is from the capitalist mode of production. It emphasizes that power lies within ownership and control over economic property, wealth including control over finance. Both the Bank of England and the Lloyd’s of London had much power during the last few hundred years. The Marxist theory comes into play here as these institutions were very powerful in the financial services, a sort of ‘hidden’ power. The Bank and Lloyd’s of London had control over ideas and were notably influential over the economy.
For my Activity Fair I chose to participate in the IPT Event Management Activity. Taking part in this activity requires me to help organize four events which are to be held during the spring term. Prior to the event I will look at the topic and must consider the following, do they look interesting? Will students be interested? Should there be other, better or more important events in their place? For each of the events there will be a corresponding question on the final IPT exam so therefore there will be a series of readings and links that the students should complete beforehand. This would require me to research and find links to help students learn about the particular event and to answer the exam question, doing this will give me valuable research skills and also being an inexperienced first year student I feel that I represent much of the student population and that I will be useful in finding information that students like me can understand or relate to. Organising events for the IPT will give me important skills such as leadership, time management and organization skills.
noshinmirza 