Authority is a constructed, analyzable mechanism rather than a natural given

Evidence

In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 301 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

What we do know for sure, thanks to Milgram, is that the subjects of his experiments went on committing deeds which they recognized as cruel solely because they were commanded to do so by the authority they accepted and vested with the ultimate responsibility for their actions. ‘These studies confirm an essential fact: the decisive factor is the response to authority, rather than the response to the particular order to administer shock. Orders originating outside of authority lose all force… It is not what subjects do but for whom they are doing it that counts. Milgram’s experiments revealed the mechanism of shifting responsibility in its pure, pristine and elementary form. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 460 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Repeated declarative assertions accumulate authority for the speaker.; Deeds are judged by authority origin, not content — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 460; Authority builds from accumulated past compliance without requiring ongoing justification (+20 more)

Related

• Deeds are judged by authority origin, not content (similarity 0.85)
• The individual is an effect of power, not its presupposed target (similarity 0.80)
• Power produces the individual rather than merely repressing it (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Deeds are judged by authority origin, not content #expands (0.90) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 460
• Power produces the individual rather than merely repressing it #corroborates (0.90) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 301
• Orientalism’s authority over its subject derives from power, not disinterested objectivity. #exemplifies (0.90)
• Disciplinary power produces individuals rather than suppressing them. #corroborates (0.90) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 264
• Authority builds from accumulated past compliance without requiring ongoing justification #expands (0.85)
• The individual is an effect of power, not its presupposed target #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 48
• Authority functions as a representation of unexplored complexity #expands (0.85)
• The Leader’s power becomes structural necessity rather than personal superiority #expands (0.85)
• Power analysis must begin from techniques of domination, not sovereignty #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 52
• Power should be studied at its effects, not its intentions #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 46
• An ultimate power to decide generates its own norms and cannot be trusted #expands (0.85)
• Undifferentiated power conflates truth with decision-making authority #expands (0.85)
• Identity is both a source of agency and increasingly constructed rather than given #expands (0.85)
• Legal validity derives from normative authority, not from physical power alone. #expands (0.82) — Ronald M. Dworkin, The Model of Rules, 48
• Continuous responsibility shifting across a hierarchy creates free-floating responsibility that incapacitates moral authority #complicates (0.82) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 463