The major purposes of this paper are to present (1) a summary of the major concepts and general hypotheses of the social power model, (2) the empirical findings from the operationalization of the social power model, and (3) some implications for change agents concerned with rural development. The social power model was empirically tested in 5 rural Iowa communities, all of which have a population greater than 500 people. The field procedures for identifying power actors in the communities involved interviews with (1) external community knowledgeables, (2) internal community knowledgeables, and (3) power actors. Information from interviews with 92 power actors was analyzed by reference to 8 general hypotheses. Implications for change agents include the following ideas: knowledge of power actors and the power structure may be helpful, power structures are likely to be more polymorphic as the size of the community increases, power actors may not be holding positions of authority, and a knowledge of role is important. (PS)