Power catalyzes action chains that reduce the complexity of coordinating many parties

Evidence

If one does not relate these points to increases in production, as research in organizational sociology does, but rather to increases in power, one can then ask whose power really profits from increasing reciprocities. How do power opportunities between superiors and subordinates change under such conditions, if the complexity of their possible relationships increases? Obviously the ability of the superior to absorb complexity is narrowly limited. Since precisely this is the source of the subordinate’s power, one must suppose that each increase in complexity alters the power relationship in favour of the subordinate, with the result that the more complex an organizational system, the less susceptible it is to leadership. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 799 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Writing enabled complex power chains and democratic control over power; Power functions like a catalyst, not a cause, in social systems; Power flows when coded, like money, transmitting reduced complexity (+12 more)

Related

• Withholding cooperation becomes power under high interdependence (similarity 0.83)
• Rising organizational complexity shifts power toward subordinates. (similarity 0.83)
• Power chains exist only when a superior can command a subordinate’s power over others (similarity 0.83)
• Organizational decentralization reduces power to mere veto power that informal networks then compensate for. (similarity 0.83)
• Personnel power thrives precisely where formal rules are weakest (similarity 0.82)
• Social complexity requires dividing selective processes across many actors (similarity 0.80)
• Power functions like a catalyst, not a cause, in social systems (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Power relations that pre-select compliant partners reduce information-processing demands #exemplifies (0.70)
• Rising organizational complexity shifts power toward subordinates. #qualifies (0.60) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 799
• Power shifts attribution of actions from the subject to the power-holder #expands (0.50)