Power vs. Authority
I teach my organizational behavior students that, in their relationships, there is a difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to influence behavior, while authority is the right to influence behavior.
Authority is derived from some level of mutual agreement within the relationship. In America we give police departments the authority to pull us over if we appear to be speeding. We grant that lifeguards on the beach, and cops on the highways enforcing the rules that we’ve established redounds to the general benefit of society. Social scientists call the extent to which we accept authority as legitimate as the “zone of indifference.” When a cop, a lifeguard, or even our fast food managers go beyond what we perceive as their authority, we seem to know it intuitively. We all have a highly tuned sense of our personal zone of indifference.
Unlike authority, power does not depend on a relationship. The lunchroom bully can influence behavior, but there is no consent given or implied when he takes the weaker kid’s lunch money. Power is as power does. The bully has the ability to take the lunch money based on his strength, so he takes it.
Now we have a class of citizens, police, who have abused their authority and have only power left. One cop murdering an unarmed kid and getting away with it doesn’t simply diminish his own authority. That injustice drains authority out of the entire system. And once gone – authority does not come back. Once the mutual agreement that we’ve entered into in order to establish lines of civil authority has been broken, power is the tool remaining in the state’s tool box. We call that a police state.
We are now a country that have allows one class of citizens to wield the ultimate power of life and death over another. Our lofty aspirations as a country embodied in the trite, old-fashioned sayings of the Declaration of Independence have collided once again with our base racist nature. And once again, our base nature has won the day.
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Do you teach your students to gather and weight facts before they jump to a conclusion?
Apparently not. Too much effort to undertake that task.
Grabbing a bad result, ignoring the facts, and trying to pigeon hole that result into a racist story line is an act no different than the work of the the worst racists. Well done.
Facts matter.
“Having announced the jury’s decision, McCulloch stressed the importance of physical evidence in the case. He then ran down a long list of various witness accounts in which people gave different versions of the events that transpired after Wilson and Brown began the encounter that left Brown dead in the street.
And McCulloch said that seemingly by happenstance, a person in a building nearby had recorded audio of the final 10 shots Wilson fired.”
…the final 10 shots? I would hope that we’d all have an interest in the overall integrity of the system. I guess not.
Great Post! I experienced Power when an armed “substance abuser” used a gun to “lift” $215.00 from me. Interestingly, 12 months later, he was sentenced to a term of life for twice being convicted of armed robbery, in this case the Authority. We all live under a social contract, some of us don’t fully understand the terms and conditions of that contract, at their own peril. Who would want to get into a wrestling match with an armed officer? Someone who doesn’t understand the social contract. When’s the last time you felt the need to wrestle with a cop?
Ask President Obama about power vs authority, he seams to get the two mixed up
Witnesses almost always give different testimony – that’s what a trial is for.
As I watched McCulloch’s endless speech last night I thought I was listening to a defense attorney, not a prosecutor. And if his speech was supposed to settle things for me, it didn’t. I have even more questions.
Seriously, why didn’t he just read the decision and leave? Why go on and on about witnesses and not about all that scientific evidence that exists? I still don’t know how far Brown was from Wilson when Wilson shot him. I keep hearing 35′ – but that number comes from the police and I don’t trust a word they say. Remember the leaks about Wilson’s serious facial injuries, broken eye socket. Yep, not true.
And can someone tell me why McCulloch waited to read the decision? Why would he announce the Grand Jury’s decision was in and then wait for hours to announce it? What was the point of that?
Unintended Consequences’ comment has the consequence of being fucking nonsense. I have no idea whether this was intended. Nice anecdote though.
Do you think that one person’s preception of the police may be very different than yours? I remember when my racist uncle literally laid on the living room floor of my grandparent’s home with his hands behind his back to “demostrate” what Rodney King “should have done” if he didn’t want to be brutally beaten by police.
The argument was disgusting then and it’s disgusting now. The group who has broken the contract is the cops you ignorant fucking clown. Blaming people with neither economic nor political power is inanity.
The criminal justice machine crushes purposefully minorities. The statistics prove this out in every way. Incarceration rates for drugs – which are used equally by all groups – is heavily tipped toward minorities. Why do you think that is?
Grand juries indict at a rate somewhere near 99%. What a surprise they didn’t here.
What percentage of whites do you think have been stopped and frisked?
Read The New Jim Crow or Balko’s book The Rise of the Warrior Cop or Taibbi’s book The Divide. These are very accessible books. Even you’ll be able to read them.
Social contract… yeah. Your argument is a joke
What these idiots don’t get is that a police that that treats them kindly and other brutally is still a police state.
True, J. (Excellent post, btw.)
And what they also don’t get is that it’s only a matter of time before the police that treat “others” brutally will start treating everyone brutally. People with power always expand it. Poor black boys/men will turn into poor minorities of both genders will turn into all poor people will turn into lower middle class people… and on and on. Sheesh, haven’t we learned how this works with the poignant “First They Came For The Jews” essay? It’s how unrestricted power works.
The important thing to remember – and this isn’t that difficult of a concept – is that these protesters aren’t evil. They aren’t criminals. They’re hopeless and they’ve been made to be this way by us. All of us.
We demonize minorities. We let our police push them around, harass them, incarcerate them incredibly disproportionately for nonviolent offenses, choke them to death for selling loose cigarettes or jumping subway turnstiles, pistol whip them in the street, speak to them like trash, shoot them unarmed in stairwells. Minorities in some neighborhoods are treated as suspicious every minute of everyday… Our society and our culture are driving good people insane. They are in an inescapable position. It’s all very upsetting…
It is extremely upsetting, Dorian.
As far as the protesters… What the hell did those in power think would happen when they started teasing that the verdict was coming any moment? What did they think would happen by announcing they were mobilizing the National Guard, closing schools? What did they think would happen when they purposefully delayed releasing the decision until nightfall? All of this was orchestrated by those in power. Talk about whipping up a frenzy.
“Facts matter.”
The most important fact in terms of indicting a police officer is whether or not he “feared for his life.” We have no way of which I’m aware of testing the officer’s statement for truth — it’s a subjective, internal standard. Under those circumstances, it’s virtually impossible to indict a police officer for homicide.
Unfortunately, police officers are well aware of what they should say to exonerate themselves, leaving us in the position of having to judge whether the “facts” are true — adding another level of subjectivity.
So “facts matter” isn’t going to cut it as thoughtful commentary on this situation.
Pandora, Im glad you said something. I thought i was the only one who saw every bit about the grand jury decision… even the state of emergency.. as a deliberate way to cause unrest…. maybe even TV ratings, waiting for Prime Time and all. and ALL OF IT with the underlying message of “and you _____ CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.”
I’m not into conspiracy theories, but… the lead up and timing to this just stinks. Perhaps they got the outcome they created.
One theory was that they wanted kids to be home from school and as many people as possible home from work before the riots started. I can buy that. Sadly, I can also buy intentionally causing unrest to reinforce the need for militarized cops and whip up racial tension. I just really dont know what to think anymore.
As usual, the Onion nails it:
“WASHINGTON—In the wake of a grand jury’s divisive decision not to charge Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, a weary American populace told reporters Tuesday that they are not sure if they can take another bullshit speech about healing. “If I have to watch some politician, law enforcement official, or pretty much anyone regurgitate the same meaningless platitudes about setting aside our differences and coming together as a nation, I might just lose it,” said Atlanta resident Samantha Hubbard, echoing the sentiment of hundreds of millions of Americans who are uncertain if they can stomach even a single empty call for respect and civility. “I honestly don’t know if I’m physically capable of listening to another community leader recite the same unbearable garbage about how it’s time for an open and honest dialogue. I swear to God, if I hear even one goddamn person assert there’s more that unites us than divides us, I will immediately blow my brains out.” At press time, the nation was particularly apprehensive at the prospect of a bullshit speech that declared words were not enough.”
The fix was in from the beginning, some choose to hope and were cruelly disappointed, followed by enraged. The grand jury was chosen to delay the results in hopes of a cooling down of sentiments , and also to hide what was going on and render an unchallengeable decision. Focus will now move to the civil suit and federal investigation. Civil Authority has indeed been broken for the majority of black Americans, as well as for more than a few old white Americans like me.
Pandora @ 8:56 AM
Per a measured report on Daily Kos, Brown’s body was measured at 148 feet from Wilson’s vehicle. If Wilson shot from 35 feet, it must be because Brown was running away and not intent on attacking Wilson. With that being the case, then I would hold Wilson on homicide charges as a deliberate murder. The “grand jury” was as phoney a set up as could be imagined. The diary has photos of the method used to determine the actual distances.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346374/-BREAKING-VIDEO-Police-Lied-Mike-Brown-was-killed-148-feet-away-from-Darren-Wilson-s-SUV
Wow, this is nuts.
Thanks, Tom!
Just to be clear, an altercation did happen at the car according to both witness’ and the police report.
How Wilson goes from fearing for his life in his car to shooting Brown (who was running away, stopped and turned around) 35′ or 135′ away is where it gets hard to explain.
But thats how police roll these days. “I feared for my life” bang. bang. call the wagon.
All for jaywalking and (what I suspect) Brown giving Wilson lip for pulling up so close to Brown that when Wilson opened the door it hit Brown and the other pedestrian. That is in the police report (except the Brown giving Wilson lip part).
An altercation happened here — one that was much more violent than what Brown is accused of, and yet this white man lives to tell the tale:
http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/24/white-man-beats-two-cops-shots-fired-unarmed-black-man-gets-shot-reason/
Seriously, watch the entire video. Restraint and some level of respect is everywhere for this moron.
Wow.
I’ll second that Wow.
I am continually amazed at the restraint shown by black men. Open warfare is being waged on them, and many of them have military training.
A “conspiracy”, and McCulloch is a Democrat. My those conservatives have quite a system. Gov. Nixon another Democrat. Again those conservatives are crafty. Violence against blacks and a system biased against them by Democrats? WTF? Oh a Black President and a Black AG. Damn Republicans set them all up by putting them in power. So who here isn’t voting for them D’s in 2016?? Oh, I forgot it’s Bush’s fault. Only the R’s can run a system as a minority party in MO.
This is a state v. citizens and the inequality that exists between classes and races.
Please try to keep up.
Authority is derived from some level of mutual agreement within the relationship.
Do you have children? If so, did they “agree” at any level to your authority?
A good take on how the DA perverted the grand jury process:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/use-grand-jury
Wow, scary. How does white America justify this crap
Also in St. Louis County — a black cop who *was* indicted for hitting a white man with his baton.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/07/25/st-louis-county-police-officer-charged/