Power systems deploy deference and silence to avoid confronting their own failures

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)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Discoursing on power differs fundamentally from being silenced by it; System trust produces a compulsion to trust a system one cannot correct; Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604 (+1 more)

Related

• Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action (similarity 0.85)
• Power is code-guided communication, not a property possessed by anyone (similarity 0.81)
• Power as a medium emerges only when contingent selection can be negated (similarity 0.81)
• Systems that need distrust must also neutralize it to survive. (similarity 0.79)
• Theorizing power requires borrowing general concepts from other domains rather than defining it directly (similarity 0.79)
• Power functions like a catalyst, not a cause, in social systems (similarity 0.79)
• Power risks shifted from temporal to factual, success and consensus dimensions (similarity 0.78)
• System trust is so inevitable it escapes conscious reflection and debate. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• System trust produces a compulsion to trust a system one cannot correct #expands (0.70)
• Discoursing on power differs fundamentally from being silenced by it #complicates (0.60)
• Power operates through indirect communication, not direct action #expands (0.60) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 604
• Systems that need distrust must also neutralize it to survive. #complicates (0.55)