Myth, Magic, and Power in Tolkien’s Middle-earth

This book introduces the Social Power Dynamic Model, which helps explain how culture and society impact power. Tolkien’s works are used in sample applications of the SPDM, which demonstrates the value of this new model and provides insight into Tolkien’s views on power.

---

Myth, Magic, and Power in Tolkien’s Middle-earth: Developing a Model for Understanding Power and Leadership explores the need for, and the development of, a model of analysis to better understand the social power dynamics that occur in a variety of human interactions. Social power dynamics are expressed and displayed through the discourse between persons or groups in every cultural setting and through cultural products. In this book, James E. Siburt follows the practice of other sociological scholars such as Foucault, Bourdieu, Barthes, etc., who used works of fiction as case studies for the application of their theories. Siburt likewise uses the creation story in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion as a field of observation and application for better understanding his model of analysis. The author’s analysis reveals that Tolkien possessed and sought to express an ethical understanding of power, although Tolkien never deliberately articulated or delineated his conception of power in any formal manner. This book shows how the application of the Social Power Dynamic model to literature, or other cultural texts, makes it possible to identify, classify, and clarify unique insights about the social power dynamics at work in human societies.