Power and control: A reflection on the times.

One of the key areas of study that we explore in Social Work and Sociology is society and its influences. At the heart of societal influence are these two words: power and control.

Most of the time, the outworking of power and control goes largely unnoticed or unopposed by society. This is what we call implicit power and control. Implicit power or control takes everyday forms that we are familiar with like taxation, welfare, governance, corporate structuring and influence on culture through media. The way Disney promotes ideas and agendas in their movies are rarely opposed by society; that influence and control over a media platform is incredibly powerful when it comes to changing or pushing cultural preference and sway. Day to day it may look more like your boss making an executive decision in a meeting, your parents deciding what car you can drive or a partner restricting where their family are or aren’t allowed to go for ‘safety’.

Explicit power and control is easier for us to distinguish and it is obvious when it is abused. Examples of explicit power and control may include things like police control, physical or emotional abuse, corporal punishment, oppression, terrorism, dictatorship or corporate businesses causing environmental destruction. We easily see these forms of power and control because they’re often the ones that make the news headlines. Explicit power and control examples are also often the ones that we as a society will openly fight against such as human trafficking.

Power and control are not innately evil or wrong. We all have different levels of power and control in our lives simply through our relationships and our responsibility. If you are a parent, a boss, a therapist/confidant, a teacher of any sort, a person with a friend, a person with more money that someone else in the world, a person bigger than someone else in the world, an expert at something, if anyone at all relies on you or you contribute to others or society in any way; then you have some level of power and control in the lives of those around you. Having that power and control is not wrong, don’t freak out, but in the words of Uncle Ben: “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

You probably don’t even realise how much power and control you have. Most people aren’t aware of it because the vast majority is implicit (unless you are a CEO dumping oil in the ocean, and if so, please stop!). We don’t notice when we tell the client we are working for how something needs to be done. We don’t realise it when we travel overseas and interact with people with less privilege or resources than ourselves. We don’t think, “Gee I’m really using my power and control right now as I get my kid to get out of bed and into school.” We do notice it suddenly when we yell at them in a moment of anger and they give a scared look. When police start pulling people over to interview if they have a good enough reason to have left their homes. When what was once an option and human right gets changed to mandates and requirements for free movement or connection with other humans, then, we start noticing that something isn’t right. When a democratically elected leader starts making executive decisions without the people’s consent or we see a parent angrily smack their child or partner, these are times where we notice it. Not only is the power and control given to that particular group or person being abused, but it is happening explicitly, and that makes our blood boil.

However, there is a simple way to reduce society’s blood boiling, and that is by shifting explicit power and control to implicit power and control. “How do people/ governments/ corporations/ etc. do this,” I hear you ask? Well, think about a time where you have seen a person or cooperation or government take away others freedoms or abuse their power or control. Maybe you noticed it in a family where a partner wasn’t able to take their kids to see friends without their other partner present. Or maybe you noticed governing bodies preventing people from accessing places of worship or family connection, while leaving open cigarette and bottle shops because it makes them money (high taxation), even if everything else is shut. How do they justify these actions and abuse of power and control? Before you can even ask this question, they will beat you to the punchline using phrases like ‘for safety’ or ‘to protect’ as their reasoning. Have you heard words used like this before by people or institutions in a position of power? It’s what I have decided to term “justification through language” and I think It’s probably the biggest thing we are guilty of as individuals, businesses, leaders, nations, cultures and society as a whole.

We justify our actions by changing the language that describes those actions. Suddenly it’s not taking away human rights, it’s increasing safety. No longer are you left angry about how your freedoms have been removed, you are grateful to those people for increasing “safety.” (Which is an absolute buzzword in society- just like “rights” … or half the issues that people get up in arms about on either side.) It’s social rhetoric; language that those with power and control use to justify actions. If you ask people to specifically tell you how “safety” is being increased or decreased through their actions, you would be surprised by how many couldn’t answer you. The same goes for people saying “rights” are being violated or improved but can’t tell you what they are when asked. Justification through language, probably our our greatest deception of society, others and ourselves. If we could see through that fog, I would love to think what a critically thinking society could achieve.

I really want to dig down into this “justification though language” term more and look at the implications of it for us individually and as a people, but I know this is a long post now, so I will save it for the next one.

Looking forward to unpacking this together then.

Dano