Power and The Group
Let’s start with a conclusion – Power is what holds a group
together. This is true of a gang, a tribe, a sports team, a high school clique,
a nation, a corporation or any collective. Power is a translation of an ideal
to appeal to the Maslow Hierarchy of needs so that a critical mass of the group
supports a leader and his/her vision.
Think back to school and the group of friends/cliques that
were formed. Why and how were they formed? Almost always they were clustered
around a popular (for that group) leader or leaders. They often had similar
interests. Common cliques are jocks, cool kids, floaters, nerds, brainiacs,
stoners, normals, etc. Everyone wanted to feel part of the group; therefore, a
common identity was formed. THAT IS THEIR STORY. There were inclusions and
exclusions. The leader had power to direct the group yet still had to be
careful to make sure he/she had wide enough appeal to maintain control.
Typically an inner circle was formed with a group that included the leader and
was loyal to the leader. The leader would usually reward this inner circle with
more favorable status or favors. If this clique was big and stable enough the
inner circle and the leader had increased power. This scenario evolves and
continues until something (or someone) breaks the hold on the group. Like graduation.
Consider a street gang. It can start as a collection of a
few individuals that see an advantage to pool resources. This could be something
as simple as not wanting to get beat up by others. The members of the gang often
must swear loyalty to the gang with penalties for trying to leave. The gang can
become a powerful force if enough are attracted (or forced) into it. An outside
force like a stronger rival gang or the police can cause the gangs demise. Another
internal force, namely enough gang members revolt or successfully leave. How
did the gang form? A leader appealed to the future gang members Maslow
Hierarchy of needs, 1) physiological – survival 2) Safety – order and stability
3) Love/belonging being part of the group and accepted 4) Esteem – others respect/fear
you because you are in the gang 5) Self-actualization – potentially you could
become part of the inner circle and have more power than if you were outside
the gang.
Consider the song from West Side Story, essentially a Romeo
and Juliet story with lovers whose families are from rival gangs
When you're a Jet
You're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin' day
When you're a Jet
If the spit hits the fan
You got brothers around
You're a family man
You're never alone
You're never disconnected
You're home with your own
When company's expected
You're well protected!
Then you are set with a
capital J
Which you'll never forget
'Til they cart you away
When you're a Jet
You stay a Jet!
Russ Tamblyn
An assumption often made is that family forms the basic
unit and kinship often tied early humans together. It was likely a contributing
but not sufficient condition. The father may be able to force his children and
wife into submission for a period but unless he maintain control, including not
allowing his family to flee, he would lose power. Ultimately his death would dissolve
the hold. Of course, power is not just about force. As the case is made here power
is more about persuasion but force is a form of persuasion.
The Roman Law conception of natural freedom is essentially
based on the power of the individual (by implication, a male head of household)
to dispose of his property as he sees fit. In Roman Law property isn’t even
exactly a right, since rights are negotiated with others and involve mutual
obligations; it’s simply power – the blunt reality that someone in possession
of a thing can do anything he wants with it, except that which is limited ‘by
force or law’. Graeber, David. The Dawn of Everything (p. 508). Kindle Edition.
“There is an obvious objection to evolutionary models which assume that our strongest social ties are based on close biological kinship: many humans just don’t like their families very much. And this appears to be just as true of present-day hunter-gatherers as anybody else. Many seem to find the prospect of living their entire lives surrounded by close relatives so unpleasant that they will travel very long distances just to get away from them. New work on the demography of modern hunter-gatherers – drawing statistical comparisons from a global sample of cases, ranging from the Hadza in Tanzania to the Australian Martu3 – shows that residential groups turn out not to be made up of biological kin at all; and the burgeoning field of human genomics is beginning to suggest a similar picture for ancients…” Graeber, David. The Dawn of Everything (pp. 279-280). Kindle Edition.
So, what does it mean? I hope I have shown that story is a
big part of POWER, the power to persuade. Ultimately any leader must continue
to provide something of value to a sufficient group of people to maintain
power. To the powerful the point is to maintain power. That is why politicians
can appear so unprincipled. To maintain power, one needs the power base. The
alternative can be a loss of power. There is a wider lesson here.
To stick to principles is dangerous to maintaining power however, bending, or
breaking principles undermines credibility. Without credibility the stories
lose their hold. In my opinion, this is as true as it was to early humans as it
is today. Be aware that once people buy into a story, those people do not
reverse course easily. Hence the story is maintained even if discredited. That
is why irrational stories still hold such sway. Who wants to admit he/she was
duped?
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