Abuse of Power Blog

The abuse of power speaks about the many ways in which people use the power of their position over others to obtain compliance with often pointless policies. A power differentiation exists within almost every relationship between any two people at any time. Parents have power over their children, older children have power over younger ones etc.

Relationships in our everyday life have unequal power differentiations as well. Anytime a person has something – a services, a skill, an expertise, whatever that another person needs there is this differentiation of power. Many people who have this power of position do not wield this power knowingly, often people are simply trying to do their job with the least amount of effort and time consumption possible. What ends up happening is that people feel pressured into compliance with things that they would not prefer to do.

School Teachers and other school officials have a certain amount of power over the parents of the children they serve. As Mandated reporters, teachers and school officials have the power to cause problems for parents if they are seen in anyway as being neglectful or abusive. So when a teacher calls a parent for a meeting about a child, the parent is already on edge because he or she is all too aware that teachers rarely call a parent to praise a child for a job well done. More often teachers call parents when there is an issue to be resolved. So if that teacher tells a parent that Little Johnny is very active in class and therefore the teacher would like to make a referral for the child to be tested for ADHD, the parent may feel powerless to voice their concern about this for fear of being seen as neglectful.

Another example, and this is a real life example that happened to someone I know. A child goes into the office to present the receptionist with a note from a parent stating the child will need to be dismissed from school the following day for an appointment. The receptionist asks the child; “What kind of appointment is this?” The child is embarrassed to state that it is an appointment for therapy, and therefore simply states, “It’s a doctors appointment.” The receptionist then asks the child, “what kind of doctors appointment – what is it for?” The child feels compelled to answer despite the fact that there are many other children and adults milling about in the office at this time. Now, did the receptionist Really need to know what kind of doctors appointment this was? Of course not. Was the receptionist abusing the power of her position purposefully? Not likely. It is just a normative question people in those positions ask – without any ill intent. However, due to the nature of the relationship present e.g., the child is in school and has been indoctrinated to understand that staff at school have all the power and the child has none – he or she would not think that they had a right to refuse to answer the question.

This is the same with a Doctor and patient, boss and employee, virtually all relationships we find ourselves in. Many times we just answer or comply because we feel that we have to. Many times people are overstepping their authority by expecting us to comply. The result is that people are feeling more and more powerless to stand up for their rights and their own lives. This is what this blog is about – taking back the power to be the master of our own lives and destiny. It is about exposing the ways in which our rights to privacy, freedoms, and choices are trampled on each and every day by those who sometimes do so knowingly, and other times do it innocently.

This blog is not about debating the intent of people in positions of power. This site is about alerting people about this trend and hopefully engaging people to look at their motivations and how what they do and the way in which the do it can impact people.