V. Taxonomy Of Social Power In The Film Inception

V. Taxonomy of Social Power As the reasons behind a lot of the characters’ actions are to acquire their own materialistic desires, the aspects of power and influence are important to recognize in the analysis of the behaviors portrayed in the movie Inception. As the movie progresses and more is revealed about Dom, it is very evident that he is recognized infamously for his skills in the art of extraction, the subconscious of others, and his control and ability to structure dreamscapes within another’s mind. This power that Dom possesses “is the power of knowledge” and the ability to “influence others through their relative expertise” is known as expert power (Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience, pg. 57, 2015). This power described

61, 2015). This type of power Saito possesses is called reward power. The theme of corruption is shown when Saito affirms that he has access to contacts that can remove Dom off the wanted list in United States and allow him to feely live there to see his children. Given that Saito is able to grant Dom with such a reward due to his vast wealth and business, his power and corresponding ability to influence others is evidently very strong.

VI. Contingency Theories of Leadership Within the movie, some of the characters show qualities of leadership that can change depending on the situation and the environment. Especially notable, the whole aspect of Inception is its emphasis on the dream world in the environment of one’s subconscious. A theory that is expressed throughout the situations in the movie is the Path-Goal theory. This theory is described to possess a leader who helps their followers by removing obstacles for them and giving them the best route to opportunity. Yusuf possesses this ability as the chemist of the team, hired by Dom, to be able to lead the situational aspect of the dream levels during their mission.

As the Inception team held roles for their members and a cohesive relationship with one another, the team successfully completed Saito’s task and Dom is seen meeting his kids in the United States at the very end in what could be reality (not revealed). Through analysis of how the team uses influence, leadership, power, and motivation in their individualized actions, a key theme is revealed about the characters in Inception. This theme is what drives the characters’ actions and causes them to contribute to their goal as a team: their individual motives. Through the study of leadership, one can confirm the idea that an essential factor in understanding people is the reasoning behind their