Through the book, Fiske coined the term power bloc in reference to the social and political economic constructs around which power functions in the contemporary Western world. Rather than constituting a particular class or permanently-defined socio-political group, power blocs are unsystematic series of both strategic and tactical political alliances. These constantly-changing partnerships form whenever circumstances emerge that jeopardize the socio-political advantages of the members involved. They therefore arise and separate on an "ad hoc" basis (i.e., depending on the necessities of the moment), and their alliance is specific to matters of social, cultural, historic, and/or imminent relevance.