Tag Archives: Power

Engaging Power: An Illustration of Cohesion

Posted on September 12, 2018 by

I wrote a series of four pieces recently, exploring gang violence, but really a perspective on the power structures, and mechanisms of coherence, that underly community (and mechanisms for diffusing, or countering, toxic culture). It is all fairly early stage, … Continue reading →

Posted in Gangs | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Erosion of Sanctity

Posted on September 5, 2018 by

Space has often been used to separate power: everyday spaces, for the masses, and sacred spaces, for the elite. Court rooms, chambers, churches, all partition space that is protected, and sanctified to power. In the old world, the more senior … Continue reading →

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Engaging Power [4]: Diffusion

Posted on August 2, 2018 by

How do we fight, how do we conquer? In oppositional models of power, we deploy overwhelming force, to disrupt the structure. The sledgehammer solution. But when the structures of violence are held within coherent social units, the sledgehammer reinforces them. … Continue reading →

Posted in Complexity, Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Engaging Power [2]: Gangs

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

What is a gang? A social structure, certainly, with defined membership, and rituals surrounding that. A structure with hierarchy, either formally defined, or discovered through experience, either fixed, or fluid. Territorial: a gang is associated with a subset of geography, … Continue reading →

Posted in Community | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Engaging Power [1]: Conflict

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

To think that gangs are an aberration, or impermanent structure, is a mistake: they are stable social structures, governed by the same bonding mechanisms as the local church, or regional police force. They are structures of power, partly formalised, partly … Continue reading →

Posted in Community | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Context of the Social Age

Posted on July 10, 2018 by

I’m editing ‘The Change Handbook’ today, and decided to rewrite the whole chapter on ‘The Social Age’. In this post, i share the new version, with the original content after it. This is part of #WorkingOutLoud, and i’m glad i … Continue reading →

Posted in Change | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Storytelling to Power

Posted on May 8, 2018 by

I used this phrase in a document today, discussing ‘innovation’, and the way that our challenge may not be around ideas, but rather in finding power behind our voice, to create the social movement to allow those ideas to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Storytelling | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments