Debt forms cascading chains that transmit creditor pressure downward
Evidence
Accordingly, the defining characteristic of chain formation is the reflexivity of the power process, i.e. the possibility of using it on itself. … Thus one only finds reflexive mechanisms in systems which possess sufficiently clear limits and which can make their processes functionally specific. For example if political power becomes reflexive, this demands a corresponding degree of differentiation in the hierarchical structures with a sufficient amount of role separation. … As a precondition of increase, of extensiveness, range, and of capacity for intervention, therefore, chain formation demands and also creates barriers against the functional and systemic use of power. … One probable structural characteristic of power stretched out in chain form is to create counter-flowing power, since the power of the system exceeds the potential selection capacity of a single power-holder and the ability of middle links in the chain to intervene serves them as a personal source of power. In this way power-codes are divided into ‘formal’ and ‘informal’, and the greatest agglomeration of formal/informal powers will be found at key points below the very top. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 656 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Power chains generate counter-flowing informal power concentrated just below the top — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 656; Hierarchical structures concentrate reusable credit slips of social obligation. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 92; High bank leverage turns small asset declines into instant illiquidity and insolvency. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 84 (+2 more)
Related
- Power chains generate counter-flowing informal power concentrated just below the top (similarity 0.82)
- Power chains exist only when a superior can command a subordinate’s power over others (similarity 0.80)
- Hierarchical structures concentrate reusable credit slips of social obligation. (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Power chains generate counter-flowing informal power concentrated just below the top
#expands(0.82) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 656