R

Lexicon series created by the Institute for

Anarchist Studies/Anarchiststudies.org
Power by Todd May
Series design by Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org PO W E
Series printed by P&L/Pandlprinting.com
February 2012

means are many. As long as we think of

power solely as repressive, then struggle

P
can only be a massive act of refusal. At
times this is what is called for, and there
is certainly much to refuse in the current
arrangement of power.
But there is more. We can act in
order to call attention to the way power
operates. Civil disobedience and protest
demonstrate for people who have not
seen it yet the way that the forces of ower is one of the most
the police are aligned with the forces elusive aspects of political
of wealth. They also empower people to space. People are said to seek, hold,
think of themselves as actors rather than exercise, or lord it over others. On
simply victims. Also, we can educate the Right, it is thought to be a reality
one another. If we have been taught that has to be seized. The world is a
to be entrepreneurs, we can teach one place where power speaks. Better it be
another to think and live otherwise. This ours than theirs. On the Left, power is
education does not have to be, and should
often considered something dirty. It is
not be, simply among those who resist.
something we must rid the world of if
It should also be an education of the
larger public, so that rather than being we are to achieve peace and equality.
constrained to live as they do, they might
see other and healthier possibilities.

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 Political power, as constraint,
is diverse, complex, and subtle. That
might seem to be a source of despair. It
is frequently difficult to see, operating in
subterranean ways. Yet it is also a source
of hope. If power is diverse and complex,
this means that our tactics can be diverse
and complex. To confront the current
arrangements of power, we can develop
alternative practices of power on a variety
of levels, from reflection to confrontation
to education to direct democracy. The
difficulty is in seeing the ways in which
power has not only blocked us but also
has actually created us. The task is to
create ourselves and our world differently.

The Lexicon series aims to convert words into

politically helpful toolsfor those already
engaged in a politics from below as well as the
newly approachingby offering definitional
understandings of commonly used keywords.

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Speaking of power in these ways we have been molded into entrepreneurs,

bars us from reflecting on what it is and for instance, we can begin to resist that
how it works. After all, what does it mean molding. We can open ourselves up in
to say that power speaks or that power order to consider other ways of being,
is something we can rid the world of? ways that involve solidarity with others.
When these phrases are used, do we really We stop thinking of ourselves in the ways
know what is meant by the word power? were told to, and start asking ourselves
Rather than taking a stand on power who else we might be and how else we
itself, or else deciding whether it is good might be together. This, in turn, may
or bad, it would be best to understand it. lead to new constraints. But if we have
It turns out that power is more complex a positive vision, those constraints will
than the simple stances toward it would replace the bad ones we are currently
have us believe. It works by repression under with better ones.
and also creation. It can be a good thing In addition to unconstraining
or a bad one. It is sometimes in the hands ourselves, we can constrain the actions
of particular people, but frequently it of others. We have been taught to think
isnt. Instead, it arises and circulates that both wealth and poverty are earned.
through social relationships in a way that Really? Are those who struggle to make
resists being appropriated by individuals ends meet really less deserving than
or organizations. those with power and wealth? Perhaps
We might think of power, at it is time to constrain the behavior of
least political power, as the exercise of others through the means at our disposal.
constraint on peoples actions. We should Moreover, when we see how political
not confuse the term constraint with the power operates, we can also see that those

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not only represses us but also makes us word restraint. To constrain an action is
into what and who we are, then there is to influence it to be a certain way. It is
no outside to power. The task is not to not necessarily to stop it from happening,
eliminate power but instead to see how although it could be that. It could also
it operates in a society. That way, we can be a matter of making an action happen
assess it, assess its effects, and challenge where it otherwise wouldnt, or of
the specific arrangements of power that influencing an action in one direction or
are oppressive to peoples lives. another. And still we must be careful. To
Second, power can be used influence an action is not necessarily to
positively. Power, lets recall, is the influence someone to do something that
exercise of constraints on peoples action. they would not otherwise do or influence
We are not only the object of constraint; them in a way they dont like. Sometimes
we can also be its subject. We can be the things happen like that, but not always.
agents of constraint, constraining the When an educational system is set up that
actions of others and unconstraining influences people to reflect on their social
particular actions of ours. situation and change it when they find
We unconstrain our own actions it intolerable, that is an example of the
when we come to understand how we operation of power. But it is an operation
have been molded to be otherwise than that many people would approve of.
we would like to be (or more precisely, The idea of power as a constraint
otherwise than we would like to be when rather than as a restraint or repression
we reflect on ourselvessince, as already is a new idea. For most of the history of
noted, our desires can also be created). political thought, power was understood
When we recognize the ways in which to be a way of restraining people. That

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Thinking of ourselves as individual institutions not only makes us do certain

entrepreneursindeed, making ourselves things; it can make us want certain
into entrepreneursis not the product of things. Far from being exercised against
a conspiracy. It is structural. our will, power can operate in such a way
The idea that power is often as to form our will. Recently, we have
structural rather than conspiratorial seen not just the actions but also the will
is an old one. It can be found in the of both the Democrats and Republicans
writings of Marxists, anarchists, and formed by those in the top 1 percent.
more recently with such thinkers as It would be a mistake, though,
Michel Foucault. The rough idea is that to think that the exercise of power in
powerwhether it represses or creates forming peoples actions and wills is
us to be certain waysarises from the solely a matter of individual decisions.
particular historical practices of a society. Much of the way power operates is
To be sure, it tends to benefit those at structural. That is to say, it is part of the
the top. But there is a difference between way a society is structured that people
saying that power arrangements benefit are formed to be the way they are. To
those at the top and saying that the top see this, we can use a current example.
few created those power arrangements It is been noticed that over the period of
for their own benefit. Entrepreneurship neoliberalism (roughly dating from the
as a way of living benefits those at late 1970s or early 1980s), people have
the top; they did not introduce it. It been encouraged to think of themselves
arose as the product of a number of as entrepreneurs. This is true not only
elements that came together in the late of our economic activity but also of our
1970s and early 1980s, such as the lives in general. We are encouraged to see

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is why it is often associated with the oil crisis and consequent theoretical
state. The state, after all, is the most crisis for Keynesian economics, rise of
powerful restraining force in a society. neoliberal theory, and increasing ability
Through the police and judicial system, to communicate and thus invest across
the state can throw people in jail, taking larger geographic areas.
away their freedom. In our society, it Political power, then, can be
can also kill people. What could be more either repressive or creative, and either
restraining to people than taking away individual or structural. It can also be
their freedom or lives? either good or bad. As we saw earlier,
And indeed, the state has power in educating people to be reflective about
this sense. It is not an irrelevant power, and engaged with their social situation
as many who have protested against is a creative form of power that is good
government policy have discovered. rather than bad. Among people who think
When people on the Left criticize power, of themselves as progressive, there is a
it is usually this kind of power they are tendency to think of power solely as a bad
thinking of. thing, something that must be overcome.
Yet power need not be only This is largely because we confront power
repressive. Think of how our parents, arrangements that are deleterious or even
schools, employers (when we can get a intolerable. When we look at how power
job), and even peers mold our behavior. works in the world, we are likely to think
This molding doesnt just stop us of it as something to be struggled against
from doing certain things. It makes or or overcome.
encourages us to do things. And there is There are two mistakes here. First,
more. The power from these people and we cannot rid the world of power. If power

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ourselves as having a particular set of neoliberal economics. Social services,

resourcesour skills, genetic inheritance, like environmental regulation or
or social intelligenceand using those infrastructure development, are collective
resources to maximize our goals or projects. Entrepreneurs are individuals
desires. Through networking, peers are acting alone, investing their resources to
considered to be investments. Clothing is develop their own vision.
not only adornment but an investment in All of this is convenient for those
our social standing as well. Even children at the top of society. When we think of
can be seen as an investment in ones ourselves as individuals rather than
future security. as collectives, we fail to consider the
All of this is in keeping with importance of solidarity and collective
the neoliberal arrangement of power. resistance. We are more likely to treat
We are encouraged, and we encourage others as competitors as opposed to
ourselves and one another, to act like comrades.
entrepreneurs. And in acting like We should recognize, however, that
entrepreneurs, we diminish the possibility this way of thinking and being does not
of solidarity with one another. arise because someone or some group
How does this entrepreneurial decided that it should be this way. The
orientation diminish solidarity? elites did not get together at some secret
Entrepreneurs, in our neoliberal period, meeting and say to themselves, Hey, if
are taken to be individual investors, we make people think of themselves as
each on their own, alone and without entrepreneurs, then we can keep them
support. It is no accident that social divided among themselves and hold all
services are reduced or abandoned by the wealth without being challenged.

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