Power grows stronger the less visible it is

Evidence

Power that relies on violence does not represent power of the highest order. The mere fact that another will manages to form and turn against the power-holder attests to the latter’s weakness. Wherever power does not come into view at all, it exists without question. The greater power is, the more quietly it works. It just happens: it has no need to draw attention to itself. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s analysis of disciplinary power’s visibility and to the earlier chapters’ theme that surveillance works through voluntary exposure; also echoes the book’s central smart-power thesis. — connects to: Neoliberal power works so invisibly that the subject believes it is free — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 44; Power grows as both the power-holder and the subjected gain freedom; Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651 (+10 more)

Related

• The most effective power operates invisibly, without coercion or open resistance. (similarity 0.87)
• Power’s proliferation stems from its congenital impotence, not omnipotence (similarity 0.83)
• Disciplinary power stays invisible while making its subjects compulsorily visible (similarity 0.81)
• Surveillance-based power operates by optics rather than force (similarity 0.81)
• Contemporary power increasingly operates through permissiveness rather than prohibition. (similarity 0.80)
• Power can be wielded quietly by overlooked figures (similarity 0.80)
• Mystified power thrives when citizens are far from its sources (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberal power works so invisibly that the subject believes it is free (similarity 0.80)
• Power functions automatically when subjects believe they are always visible (similarity 0.79)
• Modern colonial power grows more effective the less it is noticed (similarity 0.79)
• Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity (similarity 0.79)
• Knowing one is visible makes the subject self-police by internalizing power’s constraints (similarity 0.79)
• Modern power gained force by moving from brute architecture to the subject’s own perception (similarity 0.78)
• Power works best when power is rarely actually needed (similarity 0.78)
• Power identifies itself by the effort spent effacing itself. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Modern colonial power grows more effective the less it is noticed #exemplifies (0.95) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 543
• Mystified power thrives when citizens are far from its sources #exemplifies (0.90)
• Panoptic power derives from invisible omnipresence rather than real presence #expands (0.85) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 38
• Power works best when power is rarely actually needed #expands (0.82) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 728
• Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity #qualifies (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651
• Power grows with freedom and alternatives on both sides #contradicts (0.78) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 598
• Power grows as both the power-holder and the subjected gain freedom #contradicts (0.75)
• Power creates freedom, not the other way around. #contradicts (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 273
• Power operates as modalized possibility rather than actual force or capability #complicates (0.72) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 629
• Power increases only through limitations that co-constitute counter-power #qualifies (0.70) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 716