Power is code-guided communication, not a property possessed by anyone

Evidence

The catalyst function of power is, therefore, based on very intricate causal complexes. This is precisely why power is to be understood only as a symbolically generalized communication medium. The development of abstract formulations by way of symbolically controlled selection complexes ensures at the same time that power is not seen as something dependent on direct action and interference by the power-holder on the power-subject. It is only by assuming a process of communication, that is, that the power-subject always learns by some indirect route of the selectivity (not only of the existence!) of past or future power-acts by the power-holder. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604 (#expands, via linked claim)

The being of man is found in lan- guage … by which mankind continually produces and contemplates itself, a reflection of our species being. … Meaning in this view is not representation but a constituting activity whereby humans interactively endow an elastic though resistant world with enough coherence and order to support their purposes. … This is a ritual view of communication emphasizing the production of a coherent world that is then presumed, for all practical purposes, to exist. It is to emphasize the construction and mainten- ance of paradigms rather than experiments; presuppositions rather than pro- positions; the frame, not the picture. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 382 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604; Power operates partly through perception rather than explicit verbal communication; Communication constitutes reality rather than merely representing it — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 382 (+7 more)

Related

• Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action (similarity 0.89)
• Power is code-guided communication, not a property of the power-holder. (similarity 0.84)
• Power operates as modalized possibility rather than actual force or capability (similarity 0.83)
• Power can be analyzed as a symbolically generalized communication medium. (similarity 0.83)
• Power operates as a communication medium of conditional alternative-pairs, not raw force (similarity 0.83)
• Talk itself generates communities and power independent of fixed interests (similarity 0.82)
• Power functions as a communication medium through double selectivity between alter and ego. (similarity 0.82)
• Treating power as a communication medium enables comparing it with truth and money. (similarity 0.81)
• Power systems deploy deference and silence to avoid confronting their own failures (similarity 0.81)
• Even the most powerful now are objects without autonomy (similarity 0.81)
• Power as a medium emerges only when contingent selection can be negated (similarity 0.81)
• Luhmann’s 1975 theory redefined power as communication-steering rather than personal property (similarity 0.81)
• Power operates partly through perception rather than explicit verbal communication (similarity 0.80)
• Communicating about power cannot replace communicating through power. (similarity 0.80)
• Power can be conceptually unified across agents, systems, and effects (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action #expands (0.65) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604
• Power operates partly through perception rather than explicit verbal communication #expands (0.60)
• Communication constitutes reality rather than merely representing it #corroborates (0.50) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 382