Effective power requires asymmetrical preferences over avoidable alternatives

Evidence

But even that is not sufficient. Power is not exercised unless the relationship of the participants to their respective avoidable alternatives is differently structured, in such a way that the power-subject, rather than the power-holder, would have a preference for avoiding his alternative – in our example, violence – and that this relationship between the way the participants relate to their avoidable alternatives can be recognized by the participants. In short, the power-code must bring about a relationability of relations. On this assumption there arises the possibility of conditionally linking the combination of avoidable alternatives to a less negatively evaluated combination of other alternatives. This linking motivates the transmission of action-selections from the power-holder to the power-subject. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 620

Categorization

• XREF: Asymmetric avoidable-alternative structures map directly onto Giddens’s facework/faceless-commitment divide — the power-subject (Stevens) must recognize his own preference structure as subordinate, which is precisely the ‘relationability of relations’ dramatized in The Remains of the Day. — connects to: Physical force constitutes power because it asymmetrically orders parties’ relative preferences; Withholding cooperation becomes power under high interdependence; Even power relationships involve reciprocal influence between parties — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 77 (+7 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The subtle claim that power’s transmission depends on both parties recognizing the asymmetry of their avoidable alternatives — power is relational and cognitive, not merely coercive — is genuinely dense and worth sitting with.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 620

Broader Connections

• Physical force constitutes power because it asymmetrically orders parties’ relative preferences #corroborates (0.80)
• Withholding cooperation becomes power under high interdependence #corroborates (0.60)
• Even power relationships involve reciprocal influence between parties #qualifies (0.50) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 77