Power holders routinize outcomes into institutions to cut mobilization and application costs
Evidence
In the analysis of the role of power in distributive processes, it is necessary to consider the costs of power. These costs are generated in three stages of the power process - that is, the mobilization of resources, the maintenance of resources in a ‘liquid’ form (i.e., ready for use), and the application of resources to reward or punish other actors. Situations of potential conflict necessitate the keeping of resources ready for use, generating liquidity as well as (potential) application costs. Prudent managers of power resources therefore are likely to attempt to decrease these costs of power through reliance on indirect ways of affecting distributive processes. Central in this context is the emergence of formal and informal societal institutions. This strategy thus involves a move - often a conflictual one - from distributive action to distributive institutions, which routinize distributive processes. These institutions can be expected to differentiate distributive outcomes in ways which reflect the prevailing distribution of power while decreasing both liquidity and application costs of power. — Walter Korpi, The Iceberg of Power below the Surface, 9
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Institutions encode the prevailing power distribution while lowering its costs. — Walter Korpi, The Iceberg of Power below the Surface:…, 9; Institutions outlive the problems that originally justified them. — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence:…, 740; Exercising power incurs mobilization, liquidity, and application costs across three distinct stages — Walter Korpi, The Iceberg of Power below the Surface:…, 9
Broader Connections
- Institutions encode the prevailing power distribution while lowering its costs.
#expands(0.95) — Walter Korpi, The Iceberg of Power below the Surface, 9 - Exercising power incurs mobilization, liquidity, and application costs across three distinct stages
#expands(0.94) — Walter Korpi, The Iceberg of Power below the Surface, 9 - Institutions outlive the problems that originally justified them.
#complicates(0.72) — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 740