Symbolization collapses complex power conditions into experienced units.

Evidence

By symbolization (symbols, symbolic codes) it must be understood that a very complexly structured interaction-situation is expressed in simplified form and, in this way, experienced as a unit. The conditions for the formation of power as a medium of communication, analysed in the previous section, cannot as such be a theme which both sides are permanently conscious of. These conditions are summarized and performed in wordsymbols or signs, or again by symbolizing people’s identity. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 638

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines symbolization as the core simplification mechanism that makes power experienceable as a unit.
• XREF: connects to: Simplification makes determinations both more and less universal, mourning what it suppresses — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1058