About the book: 2012 / The monograph analyzes and systematizes the experience of empirical research of power in urban communities, which began in the middle of the 20th century. and has now become one of the most developed branches of the sociology of power. It presents traditions in explaining the distribution of power at the city level; cognitive models used in empirical studies of power, their methodological, theoretical and conceptual foundations; controversy between rival schools in the study of power; main research results and their implications; specifics and problems of using power research models in other social and political contexts; heuristic potential of modern models for studying power and the possibility of their application in the study of political power in modern Russian society. The book is intended for specialists in the field of political science and sociology, but can be useful to anyone interested in power and ways of studying it.