Power...relaionships (read me second)

So, when I was in school I learned about how people view power relationships. That sounds so complicated but it really isn’t...let me try to explain. When one person or a people group has “power” other another, the suppressed person can relate to this control in different ways. For example, they may or may not fight back, or they may or may not even vocalize that they dislike being oppressed.

The key is the underline view of how the powerful and the oppressed interact. There are “3 faces” of power-or 3 views of power. So you can see the relationships in three ways...

In the 1st face of power, the relationship is viewed in a very up front way. So, if the oppressed don’t vocalize that they are unhappy with the actions, then everyone is to assume that the oppressed is happy with the relationship. For example, if the general population in America is unhappy with a law, in this view of power the citizens would vote to make changes-and they would write letters to their legislatures to pursue change.

In the 2nd face of power, the relationship has a little more of an undercurrent. In this case, the oppressed disagree with the actions that are being taken against them; however, they do nothing because they are under the belief that any action they take will be worthless. It don’t mean that the action really is worthless, but the oppressed BELIEVE it is worthless. Thus, no action is taken.

In the 3rd face of power, the relationship is the most powerful in my opinion. In this case, the oppressed are convinced that they are oppressed for their own good...they believe that although they are oppressed, it is for their ultimate benefit. In this case, the powerful are most easily able to control the oppressed. The oppressed obviously are not taking any kind of action because they are sold on the relationship.

Most of the time I would view these relationships in a social structure...or in government to citizen relationships. But, in this case, I want to return to a previous thought I started...how does this look in a marital relationship? ...hummm