The most effective power operates invisibly, without coercion or open resistance.

Evidence

Power commands highly different modes of appearance. Its most direct and immediate form finds expression as the negation of freedom. This enables power-holders to impose their will against the will of those subject to power – by violence, if need be. However, power is not limited to breaking down resistance and forcing obedience. It need not take the form of coercion. 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: Reverses the intuitive equation of power with violence; connects to Foucault’s transition from sovereign to disciplinary-analytic power and to Lukes’ third dimension of power. — connects to: Power can be wielded quietly by overlooked figures; Power grows stronger the less visible it is — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 42; Power works best when power is rarely actually needed — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 728
• QUESTION: How does Han’s claim that invisible power ‘just happens’ square with empirical requirements for at least perceived exit options or sanctions in exchange relations?
• DEEPTHINKING: Dense inversion of commonsense power-as-force into power-as-invisibility; resists one-sentence summary and pairs with the whole chapter arc.

Related

• Power grows stronger the less visible it is (similarity 0.87)
• Power works best when power is rarely actually needed (similarity 0.83)
• Power can be wielded quietly by overlooked figures (similarity 0.81)
• Power arises only at the moment positive rewards are threatened with withdrawal (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Power grows stronger the less visible it is #corroborates (0.95) — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 42
• Power works best when power is rarely actually needed #expands (0.90) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 728
• Power can be wielded quietly by overlooked figures #exemplifies (0.85)