The
Three Types of Power
by
Bret Hesla
Most of us forget that there are many types of power. We only think
of the harmful power: getting what you want by force or the threat
of force. The author Starhawk has come up with a very helpful way
to understand power. She writes about three different kinds of power:
power over, power with and power from within. The last two of these
are the twin engines that drive all social change movements: people
working together and believing in themselves.
Power Over -We’re all very familiar with this kind of power.
It’s like bullying. One person is able to shove another person
around, for whatever reason—because s/he is larger, because
s/he has more money, because s/he is the boss, because s/he has more
education. Power over is what many consumers feel the service system
has. Power over them, power to meet its needs, which may be very
different from the needs of the consumer. Power over always has someone
under, and that doesn’t feel good.
Power With -This is the
power of working together, of strength in numbers. Even when we
aren’t very large or we don’t have
much money or we aren’t the boss or we don’t have as
much education, we can still have power when we work with other people.
Power with is available for all of us to use, but it takes planning
and imagination to use it. We need to practice ways to use power
with in our lives. Using it feels good and makes us strong.
Power from Within -This
is the power we get from believing in ourselves, from knowing that
other people will help us, and from knowing that we have something
important to say or to do. When we know we’re
in the right, we have a tremendous power: the power from within.
This power is like a deep well within each of us. As we encourage
one another, as we share and listen to each other’s stories,
as we build up our positive visions and beliefs, as we learn from
those who have gone before, we fill up the well inside of us and
we become powerful.
Learn to recognize the
different kinds of power and begin using the healthy forms of power
using the self-led workshop, Reach for the Power Switch: How Ordinary
People Can Use Power to Make Change. Visit ACT’s web site
at www.selfadvocacy.org and follow links for a description of this
workshop or call ACT at 651-641-0297 for more information.
