SAMHÄLLE
Techniques to Gain Power
Techniques to Gain Power TEXT ISABEL DAHLGREN ILLUSTRATION VENDELA HAMBERG
How do adults gain power? This question has puzzled sociologists for decades, who’ve tried to pin down the most common means to suppress others. Yet, it turns out that their ideas might have practical implications for normal people too. As children, we used brute force to gain power. If I wanted to influence someone else’s behaviour, I’d threaten to take their toys. However, it'd be foolish to use brute force to gain power in the adult world. In the movie Mean Girls, the Plastics aren’t powerful because of their physical strength. Instead, they have a set of ingenious tricks to exercise power. Although most of us sense when someone is being excluded from a group or treated unjustly, we don't really have the lingo to discuss what's going on. This makes these techniques ever more effective. Sociologists have spent much time identifying common methods to gain power. In the 1970s, Norwegian pro-
fessor of social psychology Berit Ås articulated a framework for suppression techniques. These are techniques used to oppress others, or to put it bluntly, to stay in power. Although Ås' goal was to understand how men discriminate women, her ideas are applicable to other contexts too. Whenever someone is being mean, chances are they’re drawing on one of these techniques. Right after the exam period, I thought it'd be fun to delve into the world of sociology and learn more about Ås’ ideas. Which are these techniques, and in which situations are they used? The first technique is making someone invisible. This means that the oppressor
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doesn't pay attention to a person or their views. For example, suppose that A and B run into some friends of A. If A and his friends go on talking about their plans for the upcoming weekend, B is made invisible. We’ve all been in B’s position, smiling awkwardly and unsure about what to say. Now assume that B proposes that they go grab a beer. If no one pays attention to their view, meaning that they neither say 'yes' nor 'no', B is made invisible again. The second technique is ridiculing someone. That is, the oppressor will mock the other person to humiliate them or downplay their views. The oppressor will typically use stereotypes about a person's gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation to produce a comical effect. For example, a Chinese friend of mine was once asked: ‘Do you see anything in the first place?' when she announced that she needed glasses. According to Ås' model, a lot of dark humour involves ridiculing. In the case where men oppress women, it's also common to compare the woman with a child. For instance, he may call her 'honey' or 'baby'.
