PouvoirSurLeCycle

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Acquérir du pouvoir sur un autre individu peut mener à plusieurs dysfonctionnements. En fait, une citation de Voltaire

: Le pouvoir corrompt. Le pouvoir absolu corrompt absolument

est tout à fait opportune pour discuter du pouvoir. Il y a une énorme différence entre le pouvoir légitime, comme un chef que vous choisissez de suivre, et le pouvoir illégitime et corrompu tel qu'une relation abusive.

Le PouvoirSurLeCycle déshumanise la victime. Si ce cycle est détecté, il doit être brisé.

Alice essaye d'influencer Bob, et y parvient. Bob s'y conforme sans répondre.
Alice perçoit qu'elle a la le pouvoir sur Bob ; elle a le contrôle sur lui.
Alice se distancie elle-même émotionnellement de Bob, le traitant comme un objet, une machine, plutôt que comme une personne, comme un pair. Elle devient froide envers Bob, insensible et ne se souciant pas de ses sentiments. Elle le commande plutôt que de discuter avec lui.
Bob, se sentant sous contrôle, commence à se sentir lui-même aussi comme un objet. Il se conforme même plus à Alice parce qu'il ne sent plus conforme pour discuter.
Si ce cycle continue, parce que Pat perçoit de plus en plus de contrôle sur Bob, Alice dépersonnalisera complètement Bob dans son esprit, comme Bob le fera lui-même. En outre, Alice commencera à dédaigner Bob, en le pensant comme étant un individu sans valeur parce qu'elle n'a pas de respect pour lui. Bob sera d'accord. Bob ne pourra pas s'échapper ; il craindra Alice. Ceci donnera à Alice un pouvoir complet sur lui.

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Définir le Pouvoir

How does Alice get power over Bob in the first place? What is "power" anyway?

We are defined by our relationships. Relationships form around interaction patterns. Interactions are linked series of choices among alternatives. The more alternatives one has, the greater is one's liberty -- the freedom to choose.

You wield power by restricitng alternatives. The power component of an interaction counts the number of alternatives owned by the agents. If the interaction results in a decrease of alternatives for an agent, that agent has suffered a negative power play, called control. If there is no change in the number of alternatives for either agent, the interaction is power neutral. An interaction that enlarges the alternatives for an agent is a positive power play, called empowerment.

Now you can unravel the entanglements. In a love relationship, you voluntarily cede some alternatives to gain others. It's much the same in an employer-employee relationship. Such relationships survive as long as the interaction patterns result in a stable balance of alternatives.

Alternatives are pattern complexity. With fewer alternatives, you have less complex patterns. With the same energy in a system, and less complexity, you have greater intensity. Mild irritation escalates to anger and rage as the available alternatives collapse.

Such an analysis (part of what I call Pattern Resonance Theory) can point the way to productive therapeutic or social intervention in dealing with power relationships. -- JerryMuelver

There are other, positive types of power. For instance, Referent Power, whereby an individual gets power by virtue of others giving it to her. For example, JeffBazos? of AmazonDotCom? gets a lot of his power due to his charismatic ability to convince others to do what he wants. There is legitimate power, as mandated by the structure. For instance, a judge has legitimate power. There is expert power, given to people due to lack of time, as in, "Get an expert in here; she'll know what to do." -- SunirShah

Those categories are usually associated with descriptions of types of authority -- you wear a mantle of authority based on office or title (your "legitimate" or structure), by expertise, by age (variant on office), by election (Bush/Gore notwithstanding), by tradition (another office variant), by size or strength, or by other qualities of social standing or presumptive appearance.

One in authority then exerts power in his interactions. I think it's a potential mistake in analysis to commingle the agent and action. For instance, different types of authority might use the same kinds of power plays. Or one authority by expertise may use power-limiting interactions, and another such authority may prefer power-enlarging interactions to get the same job done. -- JerryMuelver

PouvoirSurLeCycle

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