The choreography of power

What is a good life and what does it take to live it? This is one of the oldest questions in philosophy and perhaps one of its most important. Yet, it appears to be pretty easy to answer. That’s because virtually everybody seems willing to have a stab at it. Whether claims talk about values, forgiveness and faith or the importance of stoicism, courage and reflection, or any of the other million-an...

Every day, and during every minute of it, thousands of us enter the great City of Life . We aren’t always required to pass through its ceremonial gates but if we do we know we must bow to its statues, indulge its formalities and comply with its checks and records. Many more though travel instead through the hundreds upon hundreds of service roads and lesser known routes that keep the City connecte...

Nothing happens unless it does. Yes, this might be one of the most obvious statements about power it’s possible to make, one beaten into second place only by the undissolved inanity of proclaiming ‘it is what it is!’ However, it’s still worth pondering for a moment or two. If power is about securing advantage in some way, or at least avoiding disbenefit, then the point at which this happens, when...

We live in dangerous times. Our honour and heritage is at stake, our cultural identity, the acclaim of others, our very place in the modern world, all of this, is in jeopardy. What is right, honourable, worthy of respect is under scrutiny and it might not pass muster. Yes, the Eurovision Song Contest is upon us. We don’t have to work too hard to realise that this annual presentation of sometimes c...

There are many kinds of ‘power-watcher’, sitting inside their metaphorical hides, awaiting the arrival of their favoured species, recording what each does and wondering where they’ve come from. Some observe from a distance. Others might adjust their seat or viewing position to get a little nearer. Close up, we’d see mating, confrontation and the fight for space. From further away, we’d notice more...

When scientists talk about power, you know proper scientists like physicists and chemists, they tend to say it’s something like the degree to which we can rely on a given supply of energy. If we have enough of this, we can change things, putting what happens to work in ways that help us. Yet, that doesn’t mean that chemists, for example, think that’s all there is to it. They spend a great deal of...

Politicians frustrate us. Often with very good reason. When we hold them to account, test what they have to say, they sense danger or embarrassment at every turn and answer a different question from the one they were asked. This never goes down very well and doesn’t really seem to get us anywhere. So, those of us who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, should we, even though, of course, w...

As you’re reading this, you’ve clearly not been frightened off by the prospect of dealing with difficult questions. Questions like: ‘how can something be two very different things at the same time?’ I must admit, all of this power - duality is intellectually messy. A bar of soap, great for cleaning up our thinking but really very difficult to keep a grip on. So, as a little incentive to keep you r...

Those of you who enjoy my writing - and I remain amazed and delighted that some people do - will not need this but, before I go further, I must offer a substantial health warning. I’m sorry but this Substack will be even more difficult to get through than usual. Not the most encouraging of starts. You have my permission to take a day off if you need one, and who wouldn’t. However, to explain, I’m...

It’s too easy to picture power only as domination, as something that allows an Emperor or a President to give commands or to keep other people in their place. Indeed, classical sociology often sees coercion as the abiding intention of power, as its centrality, as something imposed (Weber) even when it isn’t noticed as this (Lukes). Put simply, this gives it the capacity to make someone do what the...

Most of us still think of truth as something like reason or logic, as derived from a reality that sits outside of the social hurly-burly. It’s something solid and consistent. It can’t be challenged because it must always be the case regardless of the circumstances. The problem here is that nothing could be further from the … well … truth. Even a cursory review of history, such as the one we took l...

Do you enjoy thinking about the big questions in life? What are we here for? What’s the point of it all? Is this all just a simulation? You know, that sort of thing. Most of us too often skip rapidly to the end here, rushing to whatever conclusion we come to without asking ourselves the most important question of all: how will I recognise truth when I come across it? There are experts around to he...

It might be Friday 13th but it's power that's doing all the cursing, hexing and fatalism not magic or the supernatural. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drrobdalton.substack.com

The ‘Oscars’ is usually a fabulous evening. Actors, directors and movies are nominated and judged, winners announced and careers transformed. What could be easier or more joyous? Yet, beneath this simplicity lies a remarkably dense accumulation of power, working its plots, finding its heroes and villains and marvelling in its special effects. The Oscars don’t simply reward cinematic achievement. T...

We might think all we have discovered about power so far is that it’s always coercion, just in a form we find difficult to spot. Yet even this idea, although very sensible in some respects, begins to run into problems the more we think about it. One reason for this is that political scientists, the ones who use normative or classical ideas about power the most, can’t really ignore the overwhelming...

Reality television is too often dismissed as trivial entertainment, nihilistic or without meaning. This is more than a little harsh. Indeed, it might just provide us with a very useful way to examine the complex workings of power. The Traitors is a good place from which to do this. It combines formal rules, the control of information, asymmetric intelligence, editorial mediation and intense intera...

Romantic love is perhaps the most deeply felt of all human experiences. It seems to be something spontaneous and emotional and is certainly pretty resistant to reason or logic. Yet few human behaviours are as heavily patterned, ritualised or institutionalised as love, particularly when it arrives via the annual demands of Valentine’s Day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this...