Great Circle

So picking up from where we left off, I have an intense hatred of people using positions of authority to wield power over others.

“Aren’t authority and power the same thing?”

So glad you asked that question. For our purposes, authority means “A position of leadership that comes from either natural or organisational relationship” (e.g. parent, mentor, manager, Colonel or teacher). “Power” in dependency theory refers to “the ability to make Person B do things they wouldn’t otherwise want to do for the benefit of Person A”.

You can hold authority without wielding this kind of power, since the demands you make on others may be for their own good, for the good of others or as a part of your own necessary boundary-setting. Unfortunately, many kinds of relationships in our world entail control and manipulation that makes life intensely unhappy or uncomfortable for the Person B’s on the receiving end.

I’ll give you some examples of this next time. Right now, too much typing is giving me shoulder cramps! Time to balance my activities and get away from the keyboard.

Ciao!