User:PanosKratimenos/sandbox/BASC001/2020-21/Thursday2-3/Power

Power in Literature and Physics

The Discovery of Pulsars in Physics

Jocelyn Bell Burnell studied radio astronomy at a graduate level at Cambridge University. It was during this time, in 1967, that she noticed something strange in the data that she had collected. While using a radio telescope she herself had built, she noticed anomalous, repetitive readings, that she later described as pulses. After spending time trying to make sense of these results, Burnell realised that what was emitting these signals was actually a pulsar.A pulsar being a type of star (neutron star) that rotates and emits high energy radiation, causing a seemingly pulsing/winking effect to those observing it from far away.

Due to her findings, Burnell should have been the one to be accredited with the Nobel Prize for the discovery of pulsars however, this was not the case. Instead, the Nobel Prize was awarded in 1974, to her supervisor Antony Hewish, for his supposed discovery of pulsars.

Power dynamics are extremely apparent in this case. Due to Burnell’s inferior status as a student, she was snubbed of a prize that was solely based on her discovery of a phenomenon in radio astrophysics. Another factor which could have played a role was her gender as a female. Many female scientists have had their work scrutinised and belittled due to their gender, only to have this exact work copied or outright stolen by their male colleges in the scientific field, as it was more believable that a man would be capable of producing these findings rather than a woman.

Female Pseudonyms in Literature:

It was very common in the past for female authors to employ a male or unisex pseudonym when publishing their works, in order to reduce the prejudice they received from male readers regarding their writing.

An example of this being the Bronte sisters around 1846, Charlotte Bronte using the pseudonym Curer Bell, Emily Bronte using Ellis Bell and Anne Bronte using Acton Bell, after being told that women had no place in the world of literature. Even J.K Rowling chose to adopt an abbreviation of her name to appeal more to boy readers. Another famous figure of 19th century French literature, Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, published her works under the pseudonym George Sands.

Again, we can witness power dynamics at play here between female and male gender roles, with the males of the society holding much more power in regard to which author becomes successful and who can involve themselves in the world of literature.

Interdisciplinary Approach

Power in both disciplines can be viewed as a strategy to ensure that the male population always comes out on top. We could also say that the idea of using power through indirect coercion exists here. A mobilisation bias is apparent as society is created with choices that pertain an advantage for the male population and hence limit the choices that can be made by female academics in their respective fields. The choice usually being, whether a female academic should stand up for herself and take whatever backlash may be thrown at her, whether that be the loss of her job or a lack of sales of her work, or to stay quiet and follow the guiding of the males dominating their respective fields.

Physics and STEM subjects used to be fields that women were rarely involved in. Because of this we could say that women being the minority in the sciences helped institutionalise these power dynamics, as males dominated the science world and therefore, could easily make choices for the women in this field, or manipulate their discipline to their own advantage. However, we have seen that these power dynamics weren't only apparent in the sciences, but also in the Arts in Literature, highlighting that power dynamics between gender roles was and still is an interdisciplinary problem. It is easy to see that power dynamics exist in all disciplines and employing an interdisciplinary approach to this issue could help ensure that these power dynamics get diminished, if not completely eradicated across all disciplines, and not just in one aspect of Arts or the Sciences.

Power in Science and Gender

Science is a field that is predominantly occupied by men, relating to the demographics of the positions of power in society. This unequal distribution has resulted from historical societal structures such as patriarchy, however this still strongly persists today, resulting in gender inequality in various aspects of science and scientific application.

Discrimination in Medical Research and Treatment

Medical research is very much androcentric, focusing more on male health issues and how symptoms are displayed in men, in terms of research opportunities. Cardiovascular disease is severely under-diagnosed in women, even though women have a higher mortality rate, due to differences in presented symptoms between women and men. This can be seen as a result of the lack of inclusion of female models in clinical trails; 70% of chronic pain sufferers are women but 80% of chronic pain studies are conducted in male models, this is also demonstrated in the adverse side effects that have been seen in women from pharmaceutical drugs - 80% of drugs are taken off the market due to adverse side effects in women. Women are often discriminated against in medicine through being denied treatment. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is half as likely to be treated in women compared to men presenting the same symptoms, due to doctors' bias in dismissing women's symptoms as hysteria or anxiety.

Gender Bias in Patients of Heart Attacks

Statistics show that a female patient that is coming into the ER and is suffering from an acute myocardial infraction, is more likely to die than a male patient suffering from the same condition. Greenwood et all in 2018 carried out a study in order to asses the reason for this survival gap between men and women. They looked at cases of patients with acute myocardial infractions in Florida between 1991 and 2010 and examined the role that physician gender had on survival rate. It was found that when the physician was male, 12.6% of male patients and 13.3% of female patients died. However, when the physician was female, 11.8% of male patients and 12% of female patients died from their heart attacks. Furthermore, when the male physician was accompanied by his female colleagues, or had more experience with female patients, the survival rate of the female patients rose. The researchers concluded that male physicians are not fully equipped with the ability to treat female patients as most studies, research and medical training is focused on the male anatomy and male targets. This study very importantly showcases that something as simple as a gender gap in medical training can result in higher survival rates for males, for the same condition.

Racial and Gender Bias in the medical field

This kind of discrimination does not only apply to women being treated by male doctors but also to the interaction between black patients and white doctors, especially female black patients A recent study conducted by The New England Journal of Medicine had the purpose of reporting this injustice, especially in the area of cardiovascular procedures . Previous studies reported a difference in the treatment patients received, linked to their race and gender. This study concluded that, indeed, the race and gender of patients influence how doctors treat them medically: The estimates of the probability of coronary artery disease were lower for women (64.1% next to the 69.2% for men) and for black people (0.60; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.4 to 0.9; P=0.02). It also concluded that only black women had a significantly less probability of being treated for heart catheterization than white men, used as a reference.

Discrimination from and within science

Women are also discriminated against and discouraged from pursuing science itself; science faculty members on average rate women significantly lower in competence and give men a higher starting salary and more mentoring opportunities, when given the same application, differing only in a male and female name. Furthermore, these same issues are seen earlier in education - teachers often encourage girls more in reading than in maths compared to boys, and girls are less likely than boys to be advised to take courses in STEM in career counselling. Women in science often face discrimination and sexism in their workplace - a study involving 1,300 participants by the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that 52% of women reported having experienced gender bias during their careers, compared to 2% of men. Another study found that women applying for postdoctoral fellowships had to score 2.5x higher on an index of publication impact to be considered the same as men.

Power and Truth

Power and truth are strongly interconnected when concerning gender discrimination and science. Many attempts have been made to justify the existence of gender gaps in medical treatment, career choice and achievement. For example, the notion of hysteria was once a common way of dismissing women's symptoms as psychological, even though men presenting the same symptoms would be diagnosed with the correct medical condition or disease. This still persists today, especially in illnesses which have symptoms that cross over with those seen in psychological distress such as heart conditions or neurological disorders. This can be seen as a result of the influence of the distributions of power in society i.e. patriarchy; historically, hysteria was labelled as an illness that resulted from women using their brains too much, tied to the idea that women should not pursue academic careers or be in education, thus one of the common treatments was mental isolation and removal of all stimuli in a clinical environment, ensuring that women could not use their brains in any way deemed "too advanced" for their sex. This idea has died out in modern medicine, however the principles are still perpetuated by many doctors in dismissing the symptoms of women, and in many cases this costs women their lives. Career choice and achievement are also not uncommonly perpetuated as having a biological basis in sex - it is argued that women are naturally better at Social sciences, English literature and Art, and men at Science, Maths and Computing, as an attempt to explain gender gaps in career choice. Although this does not explain why computing was originally a female-dominated field, and the majority of those pursuing biology and biochemistry-related courses are women. Furthermore, the studies upon which innate brain differences are based on have been widely falsified through their inability to be reproduced, extremely small sample size and confirmation bias. Cordelia Fine coined the term "neuro-sexism" describing how the search for innate brain sex differences is biased towards reinforcing gender stereotypes to maintain the status quo. This demonstrates how power and truth are interconnected through how the distribution of power in society can influence what is perceived to be true.

The power of Language

Language facilitates communication, helping individuals understand the experiences, actions, behaviours and thoughts of others, as well as their own. Despite the multitude of languages that are spoken around the world, language has helped humanity progress as a whole, and proven functionality in all disciplines. Considered a powerful tool in itself, language has also played a major role in creating, maintaining, and destroying greater schemes of power dynamics, and must be recognised for its capacity to both unite as well as divide communities.

The power of Language as a tool

One of the most apparent ways in which language can be used to establish power, is through direct coercion. In conversation, imperatives, forceful language and tonality can be used to gain power over someone. The individual or institution that can make a demand, that is followed, wins authority and a respective status. Language can furthermore be used for indirect coercion, as a vessel for manipulation, leading questions or propaganda. Both in speech and text, propaganda is used to spread ideologies, and through emotive language, define a distinct in-group and out-group. By providing individuals with a social identity, propaganda aims to form a connection between an individual and a religion, nation, or political group, yet historically this method has employed a rather biased attributional style. One of the most controversial examples of propaganda being used to separate a nation, was in Germany during the second world war. The toxic doctrines spread by the government through media and political speeches, left a permanent impact on language, as certain words never recovered from their negative connotations, including the word “propaganda” itself. From originally having religious connotations, “propaganda” became associated with war, and nowadays is linked to politics, reflecting the shift of influential power from one discipline to another. Using language to incentivise and coerce groups of people in this way, developed into a power system and models, such as the “propaganda model", show that these are still actively used today. While growing media platforms have given more individuals a public voice, the media is not resistant to power, and to a certain extent, remains censored. Language continues to be used to mold people's understanding of subjectivity, and even with the encouragement of freedom of speech, power can seemingly still make a figure immune to accountability.

The power of Language itself

The sole existence of language has also influenced global power dynamics. Over 7000 languages are spoken across the world often marking unique cultures and communities, yet minority groups are faced by the fear of extinction when ethnolinguistic vitality is concentrated around a rival language community. Country leaders see the benefits in having one standardised language, as a population is more likely to disregard cultural discrepancies if all the people share one commonality. Patriotism and unity are profitable, and while this incentive has influenced individual nations; as was the case in China where the hanzi script was encouraged between 475-221 BC., it has also had a global impact. This can be observed in the fact that English has risen to be a worldwide Lingua Franca, that dominates international trade, the media and the internet. This trend can be seen across all disciplines, including the natural sciences where since the 1880s scientists have increasingly chosen to publish papers in english rather than their native language, and thus overall countries are keen to have english as a national language, to aid globalization. Not being able to speak english can be perceived as a disadvantage, for finding jobs, travelling and obtaining a higher level education, which reinforces socioeconomic inequalities. This linguistic imperialism can be considered a vestige of the British empire, reflecting the power of colonialism, social hierarchies and even the male dominance of the time, as multiple of the grammatical rules still used today were based on sexist beliefs.

Power in Gender and Language

Androcentric, patriarchal social structures have very much influenced the way that language was constructed, and gendered language now has a dominant role in subconsciously reinforcing gender stereotypes and roles. Much of this is based on the notion of "male" being the default human, reflected in supposedly gender neutral terms having a masculine basis, such as "mankind" and "men" as all people, "manpower", and jobs such as "policeman" and "fireman". This is also reflected in other languages which have direct masculine and feminine words, such as French, where "they" is masculine. A similar instance is seen in mandarin - the character for "they" incorporates only the character for "he" not "she". Studies have been conducted demonstrating that there is significantly more gender inequality in countries with gendered language; one study found that countries where >70% of the population spoke a gendered language scored lower on the overall index and economic subscales for gender equality.

Conclusion

Depending on how and by whom it is used, language can appear to reveal or distort the truth, and so plays a crucial role in power strategies, and the resultant interpretations humans make. Language is relevant in all disciplines, and to understand where language has an impact on fostering and maintaining structures of inequality, a study of linguistics from an interdisciplinary point of view may be the most appropriate.

Power of Non-Violence

Introduction: Non-Violent Approaches

When a society reaches a point where its current situation becomes unbearable to deal with, people often express and challenge this through protests. While there are different ways to strive for change, more non-violent approaches have recently experienced an increase in popularity; however, within history these are still not focused on as much as violent actions.

Politics and Non-Violence

Gene Sharp’s theory states that if the ruled ones remove their consent, they challenge and destroy the power of the ruler. Therefore, it is up to society to decide if they seek for a social or political change. The basis for nonviolence is to build a collective action rather than spread fear or anger as with violent acts. It comes from the idea that people are seeking for a community in a long term , so it is more powerful to have a movement that has basis in such goal, rather than short term emotion. It differs from violence in the way that it strives not only to show an opponent as immoral, but to change it to a new morale based on sounder values as well as instead of breaking the opposition’s will nonviolence aims to alter it. In general, it seeks to repurpose the emotions and traits of an enemy to fit serve a better intention. Another strength of nonviolence is equality among those involved. Due to the fact that equals rather than people or institutions tight by different relations are usually connected by persuasion, loyalty, legitimacy. It is referred to by Kennet E. Boulding as “integrative power”

Statistics of Non-Violent Approaches

There are numerous examples of successful nonviolent actions, yet these do not get enough attention, creating the illusion that violent acts are more popular and effective. In fact, it is the opposite, nonviolent acts are not only more inclusive and representative, but also require the involvement of far less people (3.5% is enough compared to at least 5% in violent acts). Another important fact to note, is that nonviolent revolutions are more likely to result in the formation of a democratic government.

Examples of nonviolent actions can be found in XX century history, i.e. Baltic States broke out of Soviet Union regime by what is called Singing Revolution [1]. XXI century also offers an example of a global environmantalist movement Extinction Rebellion [2] .

Power in Politics

The concept of power is unseparable from politics, those in the position of power are able to influence the actions and beliefs of others. Consequently, it is inevitable that power can sometimes be used for self-serving purposes or execised unjustly. How can a government execise its power?

Authoritatian Point of View

Authoritarianism is, first of all, a social and political system that is focused around obedience to the state and its leaders. In an authoritarian state, the power is concentrated in the hands of one sovereign or a small group people in charge, with everyone living in that state obiding the sovereign. Second of all, it is a social view characterized by the belief that society should have strict and unconditional loyalty and subordination to the ruler. Authoritarianism is the principle of blind submission to authority.

Hobbes on the Power of the Government

An English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, argued for absolute monarchy, when monarch has absolute autocratic authority that is not limited by laws or legislature. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes states that the life in the natural condition of mankind is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, since there is no force to restrain humans, who are constantly in pursuit for power, because power provides survival, and, according to Hobbes, survival is the main thing that humans seek in the state of nature. Surprisingly, Hobbes does consider all people equal, however, being a pessimist, he also mentions that equality means that everyone is equally capable of killing others in order to preserve own life – it is called “the rights of nature”. This right invites a serious conflict, especially if there is lack of resources or any other crossing of interests. This everlasting competition leads to what Hobbes called “bellum omnium contra omnes” or “the war of all against all’. It is important to note that Hobbes viewed humans as fundamentally egoistic, hence their main motivation for actions is self-interest. Considering all of the above, he stated that humanity needs some kind of authority that subdues their natural desires in order to escape from the chaos. The only way to achieve peace is to develop a covenant or a “social contract” that prevents people from violence and seeking for power, and transfers this power to an ultimate mutually-recognized sovereign. Essentially, legitimacy of such sovereign depends on whether it can provide survival, which humans still need as they gave up their natural rights, the main being liberty. As people give up their natural rights, the sovereign gains power.

Consequences of Authoritarianism

This kind of political system implies a strict suppression of any kind of non-systemic opposition by the authoritarian authorities and the inability of the legal opposition to significantly influence the course of state development. Sometimes it implies the absolute absence of opposition. Authoritarian leaders use power with little regard for popular views that differ from the views of the government and the opposition, and it is almost impossible to change this kind of authority through legitimate elections. Considering this, it is possible to say that the power is exercised in no accordance with the opinions of citizens and often with the law, hence the people living in this society can be wronged by the government without any kind of repercussions for the sovereign. This leads to the abuse of power in politics.

Liberal Point of View

Liberalism focuses on protection of humans' liberty and in this political doctrine, government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but the government itself can pose a threat to liberty, therefore its power should be limited.

Locke on the Power of the Government

Unlike Hobbes, Locke is optimistic about man’s nature and he sees humans as naturally peaceful and cooperative creatures, that are capable of rational thought and mutual self-recognition. That is why he does not believe that the State of Nature is the state of “war of all against all”, from his point of view it is the state of absolute equality and freedom. “It is evident that all human beings – as creatures belonging to the same species and rank and born with the indiscriminately with all the same natural advantages and faculties – are equal amongst themselves” – wrote Locke in “Second Treasure”. Men in the State of Nature are free and equal – no one has the right to rule over others. The only right humans have is Natural Law – right to life, liberty and possessions. However, Locke’s definition of freedom differs from Hobbes’: a person does have liberty to do whatever he pleases with himself or his property, but he cannot harm anybody else. This freedom is limited by the Natural Law that states that nobody can restrict anyone in his life, health or possession, that is why the power of the government can’t be absolute – it is limited by the Natural Law – so its role is to overview the humanity and ensure well-being and honest mutual relationships. We can see that Locke was a strong individualist and he thought that the government should just make the State of Nature better, but it can’t have ultimate control over people’s lives.

The Extent of Governmental Power

All of the above raises a question of the extent to which the government can exercise its power, and both Hobbes and Locke provide us with two extremes - one being the restriction of individual's negative liberty (a concept described by a philosopher Isaiah Berlin as a freedom from external barriers) and the second being the restriction of positive liberty (a concept of freedom from internal barriers).

The power of fashion in dictatorial regimes

The impact of fashion in society is not often studied from a historical point of view, however, as the French sociologist, Marcel Mauss asserted, fashion is a complete social phenomenon; it is more than the way we dress, it is a social institution with the purpose of presenting and categorizing the members of society. In the case of authoritarian regimes, fashion is not only used by the state to standardize their troops and citizens but also imposing dress codes developed by the regime's designers force the citizens to renounce their own freedom of expression.

All dictatorial regimes, despite being of different ideologies, use the same vocabulary in the language of fashion. This phenomenon, as described by the German philosopher Georg Simmel, had two main purposes on one hand, the need for unification within a social group and, on the other, the need for difference between social groups with different positions in the social hierarchy.

One of the most famous examples of the use of fashion in an authoritarian state is the Nazi regime. Aesthetic in the Nazi regime was one of the main ways of imposing the Nazi ideology and it was characterized by its monumental and heroic component and its propagandistic purpose . The way nazis used fashion to appeal to the masses was by making the officers wearing the uniforms both intimidating and desirable. The uniforms, designed by Hugo Ferdinand Boss, had streamlined silhouettes, very tight jackets and black leather boots. Despite the perseverance of the regime, they soon became sexualized and fetishized . By making them desirable and unapproachable the social response was of admiration, illustrating the power that aesthetics and fashion can exercise on society.

Power under Capitalism

A form of Institutionalized Coercion: the Concept of Cultural Hegemony

The concept of cultural hegemony was brought forward by the Marxist Antonio Gramsci in the early 20th century, in his work “The Prison Notebook” (1997).

Marx described ideology as a “superstructure of civilization”, in which "the ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of their dominance". This idea of mobilization of bias, with set “ruling ideas” that operate systematically to the benefit of the ruling class (to remain in a position of hegemony) is what influenced Gramsci.

The idea behind the concept is that the coercion is indirect, the values of the ruling class are so present and ingrained in the system, that those finding themselves to be dominated have assimilated the benefits of the ruling class with theirs: in fact, the norms set by the former have become unquestionable to a certain extent: any form of alternative is not part of the common framework of understanding and the status-quo is perceived as natural and immutable.

This hegemony is maintained through outlets of communication (media): symbols and messages are used to mediate values, beliefs and codes of behaviour: this requires “systematic propaganda”.

Power in the Publishing Industry

Power in publishing can be divided in several ways. The language used; as systems of disseminating knowledge and ideas; as capitalist businesses; as environments in which people and ideas interact; the demographics included and targeted, and assumptions made; as direct coercion and editorial control over a piece of writing.

The Power of Published Words

Being published at all gives a book and its contents credence, and hence power. And books have long been a way of disseminating ideas and information which has the power to illuminate and provide the vocabulary to describe and understand theories and experiences. Books communicate through the written word. This has power through both direct and indirect coercion. As Henry Miller wrote “A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition.” Books can disseminate ideas and information that change people’s minds and actions. The language used also has the power to resonate with individuals. Through the choice of pronouns and adjectives used, things are portrayed in different ways, included or excluded, causing different inferences to be made - which can break down or reinforce existing power structures.

Structural power in publishing

Foucault said "Power is exercised rather than possessed..."; it is the editor who has the power to decide to publish a book, and therefore which succeed. Additionally, editors have control over the contents of books, which is power as as direct coercion. Famous examples of editors who had influenced books include Max Perkins, who edited F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and Harper Lee’s editor for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. The original draft was published as ‘Go Set a Watchman', and the artistic and structural differences were striking. Increasingly editors are more involved in publicising books, giving them influence over which books and the ideas within them enter the public consciousness.

Publishing houses also wield power. An example of the link between publishers and power structures is Cambridge University Press, the University of Cambridge being a bastion of wealth and power. Moreover, it is the oldest publishing house in the world, producing books since 1584, mostly produced Bibles and prayerbooks in the 19th century, but has since expanded into a wide range of subject areas. This reflects and affects the diminishing power of the Church and increasing power of formal education over the past 150 years.

There is also great institutional power in the publishing industry, which dates back to the 16th century in the UK. In the modern industry women fill 55% of leadership and executive-level roles in UK publishing, though there is a lack of racial diversity, with only 13% of those surveyed identifying as BAME. This causes the exercise of power as indirect coercion, resulting in fewer experiences and ideas being shared. A recent academic study found that the publishing industry had attitudes that negatively affected authors of colour. The core audience for publishers is assumed to be white and middle-class, but it was found that other groups were under-recognised. These factors affect the treatment of non-white writers’ work and reduces the number that are bought and sold by publishers, editors and agents.

The recent ability to self-publish books, blogs and on social media disrupts publisher's power of indirect coercion, by enabling anyone to publish without requiring the approval of the powerful.

Publishing and Capitalism

In 2019 in the UK 3.709 billion GBP was spent on books. This amount of money increases the publishing sector's power and status, as well as demonstrating that money is required to access the information in books. Initially publishing meant that books could be produced on a larger scale, more quickly and cheaply than previously, thereby making them more accessible. There is power in this access: children who own a book are more likely to have a higher reading age and children who enjoy reading are more likely to have better mental health. Most strikingly, poor literacy has been correlated with a lower life expectancy, showing literacy and books have power. The beneficiaries of books reflect the power structures in society, which means that those who do not have access to books, through lack of money and literacy, are impoverished.

The proportion of privately educated people in the UK publishing industry is nearly three times greater than in the general population, while the industry has power in society, for example in debates around capitalism. The influence of the publishing industry, combined with a lack of racial diversity, could be considered to further cultural hegemony. However, it is through his books that Karl Marx communicated the ideas that form the basis of 20th century socialism, and there are many others on racism or sexism. Authors use the power of the published word to identify and criticise their enemies and share ideas from outside the mainstream.

Examining the financial side of the industry also reveals power dynamics between disciplines: most authors do not make enough money to sustain them and the payment structure is such that the creators have insecure incomes. This reveals the power dynamics around the Arts in our society, the artistic simultaneously have a deficit of power and great influence. Within disciplines power dynamics are also revealed. A nonfiction bestseller is more likely to be male, reflecting the gender imbalance in STEM subjects, whereas the same is not true on the fiction bestsellers list.