ANALYSIS OF "THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE" (part 37)

Information as a Resource for Power and Resistance

by

Charles Lamson

Acquiring and holding on to power depend in large part on the control of information. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that power depends on shaping the content of information, and controlling its flow to certain audiences. In this way, consciousness can be managed, so that people are usually compliant, rather than unruly.

A general principal here is that information is a resource that can be used to make things happen, which is to say that information can be a source of power. If you knew, for instance, that BioDynaTek stock was going to triple in value this year, you could use that information to get rich. You could buy stock now and sell it later for a big gain.

Or suppose you know of a job opening and knew exactly what a person should say in an interview to impress the boss and win the job. That would be valuable information to someone seeking a job. If you knew such a person, you could trade your information for a favor, or create an obligation to be repaid later. You could make some things happen and others not.

Even in intimate relationships people might seek power by controlling information. For example, if one person refuses to say how s/he feels, this keeps the other person guessing. It is as if one person is saying, "I will not tell you how I feel because then you will know what my vulnerabilities are, and perhaps you will some day use that information against me." Or is it possible that one person wants to appear emotionally tough and thus willing to walk out at any time. This too is a way to maintain power, because it can make the other person feel weak and dependent and perhaps a bit foolish for caring so much.

Being mindful of how information is linked to power, we can see that a great deal depends on context and the nature of our relationships to others. Nothing is a resource in a vacuum - not information or money or guns or anything. Power is the capacity to make things happen, but exactly what can be made to happen always depends on the context in which the resources we possess are or are not usable.

We can use simple questions to remain mindful of how the information we receive is filtered and shaped. For instance, we can ask, What assumptions are shared by everyone whose ideas are presented on this program (or in this publication)? What would be a truly alternative, not just slightly different point of view? Being sociologically mindful, we must seek answers, too, rather than letting others feed us whatever information they like.

A way to see how information is filtered and shaped - and to see what we are missing when we rely on one source - is to consult a variety of sources and to see how they compare. It also helps to remember that all stories have more than two sides. Being sociologically mindful, we will try to grasp as many sides as we can. When people are able to do this, and when they are willing to think critically, exploiters and fakers of all kinds lose their power.

*SOURCE: THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE, 2ND EDITION, 2001, MICHAEL SCHWALBE, PGS. 164-165*

END