Unchecked coercive power devalues those it controls

Evidence

Under certain conditions, wielding institutional power changes the power holders in ways that are conducive to dehumanization. This happens when persons in positions of authority have coercive power over others but with few safeguards to constrain their behavior. In such situations, those in power come to devalue those over whom they wield control. … Kipnis (1974) documents the devaluing effects of unilateral power even when it involves the use of reward as the mode of influence. Compared with supervisors who had to rely on their persuasive skills to improve workers’ performance, those who influenced workers’ behavior through money rewards thought less of their ability and performances, viewed them as objects to be manipulated to get things done, and had less desire to associate with them. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 614

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s authoritarianism claims — institutional position, not personality, may drive devaluation of the subordinated.
• QUESTION: Does this mechanism generalize to policy elites whose power over out-groups is unilateral and unconstrained — i.e., who design immigration or policing policy with no feedback from affected communities?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 614