Power from "summary" of The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Power is not just about who has control over resources, like money or land. It's about who gets to define what is normal, what is valid knowledge, what is beautiful, what is valuable. It's about who gets to make the rules, who gets to be included, who gets to be excluded. Power shapes our understanding of the world, our understanding of ourselves. It determines who gets to speak and who gets listened to, who gets to be seen as an expert and who gets dismissed as uninformed or irrational. The exercise of power often involves creating and maintaining hierarchies, where some people are seen as more important, more deserving, more intelligent than others. These hierarchies are not natural or inevitable; they are constructed and maintained through systems of oppression. Power operates at multiple levels, from intimate personal interactions to institutional structures and societal norms. It ca...
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