Empower(verb):to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means. 

“Sociology can empower people to effectively address the problems affecting them by helping them develop a ‘sociology imagination.’ Page 10 “Sociology lecture notes”

I encounter the word while I was reading my sociology notes. I heard of the word before but I’ve never really search up the meaning of it, all I know is that the word “power” is in it. I took a guess and thought the word means gaining the power because the following sentence gave me a hint of it. ‘Affecting them by helping them develop…’ the word helping and developing both representing something positive. When I search up the word, it means giving powers, when the sentences were put together, it means “sociology can give powers to people to effectively address the problems…’