The
next theory is Emerson (1972),’Power-dependence
theory’, brought out the concept of
power and its place in dependence. The tenet of Emerson power-dependence theory
revolve around power, power use, and power balancing, and rest on the central
concept of dependence. Mutual dependence bring people together and are more
likely to form exchange relations. Emerson explained that it is the
inequalities in dependence that create power imbalances.
Emerson defined power as “ the level of
potential cost which one actor can induce another to accept”, while dependence
involves, “the level of potential cost an actor will accept within a relation.”
These definitions led to Emerson’s power-dependence theory (Molm, 2007) , which
Yamagish, Gilmore, and Cook (1988),
summarized; that the power of one party over another in an exchange
relation is an inverse function of his or her dependence on the other party
(Whitmeyer, 2005). Unequal power and
dependency lead to imbalances in relationships.
Due to this poverty, women in the developing countries with
their low-socio-economic status now depend on what to do to survive. Agarwal
(1992) identified that poverty of women in the developing countries is on the
increase which is counted on globalization, social policies that neglect women,
inequality in employment and existing
gender- based repression. And with their introduction to small-scale quarry
mining in areas where they are found like in the developing nations, they now
depend on the work with the attendant health risks (Molm, 2007 ). These poor
women are equally exploited by the mine owners as there are in most cases no
other options of work around the rural areas. Bohn-Bawerk (1990) observed in
his work , that power and dependence allows the institution of private property
by the privileged few to reap the benefits of the workers. The privileged few
referred here are the capitalists; who in this case are the owners of these
small-scale quarry mines, and the reliance of these women on quarry mining to earn a living lead to their being
exploited and lack of negotiations.