Why explore power?
Understanding power helps us understand ourselves—and build a better society.
- Power is part of every human relationship.
- When people seek to improve the world, questions of power inevitably arise:
- "Whose fault is this problem?"
- "Who is responsible for fixing it?"
- "Who stands in the way of change?"
- Yet, power is often seen in overly simplistic terms: as something some people have and others lack. This binary thinking flattens the complexity of human relationships. Worse, it can lead to new problems in the name of solving old ones.
Instead of viewing power as a binary,
we need to see it as a paradox.
Image credit: M.C. Escher, "Drawing Hands," 1948.
To see power as a paradox is to recognize that no one is simply powerful or powerless.
Each of us carries within us both power and powerlessness—shaped by, and shaping, the world around us. These elements shift constantly, depending on context and relationship.
This is not an entirely new perspective. Paradoxes of human relationships have been explored for centuries. These paradoxes have informed diverse scholarship and practices, that aim to help people understand themselves and resolve their conflicts. This project brings many different threads together in a unique and evolving way—connecting insights across scholarly disciplines, practices of self-awareness and growth, art, and everyday life.
Each of us carries within us both power and powerlessness—shaped by, and shaping, the world around us. These elements shift constantly, depending on context and relationship.
This is not an entirely new perspective. Paradoxes of human relationships have been explored for centuries. These paradoxes have informed diverse scholarship and practices, that aim to help people understand themselves and resolve their conflicts. This project brings many different threads together in a unique and evolving way—connecting insights across scholarly disciplines, practices of self-awareness and growth, art, and everyday life.
This Website Is a Nonlinear, Ongoing Book
This website is where I’m writing a hypertext book about power. It is nonlinear by design: made up of interlinked entries that explore themes, examples, and theories from many directions. I’m inviting readers to follow the book as it grows. You can explore the current state of the project using list of completed pages. I share updates and reflections on my blog, and you can subscribe to my newsletter via my personal website.
Image credit: Richard Giblett
I aim to write in accessible language for a broad, college-educated audience. Some entries introduce key concepts or theories. Others explore real-life practices or share personal and cultural stories. Topics I explore range from parenting, education, and media to commerce, politics, and art—because power is about all of them.
This work is rooted in interpretivism and draws from the rhizomatic research paradigm
developed by Deleuze and Guattari. The hypertext format reflects the complexity of the topic: non-hierarchical, branching, interlinked. In my view, this structure best supports inquiry into power’s layered and paradoxical nature.
I aim to write in accessible language for a broad, college-educated audience. Some entries introduce key concepts or theories. Others explore real-life practices or share personal and cultural stories. Topics I explore range from parenting, education, and media to commerce, politics, and art—because power is about all of them.
This work is rooted in interpretivism and draws from the rhizomatic research paradigm
developed by Deleuze and Guattari. The hypertext format reflects the complexity of the topic: non-hierarchical, branching, interlinked. In my view, this structure best supports inquiry into power’s layered and paradoxical nature.
Where does the name of this project come from?
“Power of meanings” reflects the idea that human relationships and behaviors are shaped by the meanings we assign to people, actions, and events. Think of Clifford Geertz’s idea that humans are “animals suspended in webs of meaning they themselves have spun.” Disentangling these webs—with patience, curiosity, and empathy—is, I believe, essential to becoming better individuals and creating more humane societies.
“Meanings of power” signals my focus on exploring the many ways we define and understand power itself—and how we relate it to concepts like agency, free will, social systems, responsibility, and blame. My aim is not to offer a single definition, but to spark deeper reflection on how we live with—and through—power.
This project builds on the theory of micro- and macropower I developed in my first book, Media Is Us: Understanding Communication and Moving Beyond Blame (2021). That theory centers on the paradoxical relationship between individuals and society: we are both shaped by and shapers of the social world.
Acknowledging this paradox does not mean ignoring or excusing power imbalances. Rather, it opens up a more flexible, honest framework for examining how power flows—within us, between us, and around us.
“Meanings of power” signals my focus on exploring the many ways we define and understand power itself—and how we relate it to concepts like agency, free will, social systems, responsibility, and blame. My aim is not to offer a single definition, but to spark deeper reflection on how we live with—and through—power.
This project builds on the theory of micro- and macropower I developed in my first book, Media Is Us: Understanding Communication and Moving Beyond Blame (2021). That theory centers on the paradoxical relationship between individuals and society: we are both shaped by and shapers of the social world.
Acknowledging this paradox does not mean ignoring or excusing power imbalances. Rather, it opens up a more flexible, honest framework for examining how power flows—within us, between us, and around us.