Indirect Power

The Psychology of Everyday Social Control

About this series

Indirect power refers to the ways social influence, dominance, and control operate without being openly declared. Unlike overt authority or force, indirect power moves through tone, timing, norms, symbols, and emotional signaling. It is exercised casually, often unconsciously, and frequently denied by those who benefit from it.

This series examines the everyday psychological mechanisms through which indirect power functions. Each essay isolates a specific form—such as mockery, interruption, politeness, surveillance, or violence—and renders its structure visible without moral dramatization or prescriptive intent. The aim is not to accuse, but to clarify how power actually moves in ordinary social life, especially in spaces where it is least acknowledged.

Taken together, these essays form a coherent architecture of indirect social control, moving from subtle interpersonal regulation to the boundary conditions enforced by force. Each piece stands on its own and may be read independently. Readers are encouraged to begin wherever recognition is strongest. These essays may be read in any order. They are designed to function as a map, not a sequence.

Deeper structural analysis of each topic is conducted separately inside The Study, where the assumptions, limits, and unresolved tensions of each mechanism are examined in greater depth.

RJ Starr RJ Starr

Indirect Power: Violence as Social Control

Violence is often treated as the breakdown of social regulation, yet it functions as a background condition that gives indirect power its force. This essay examines how the availability of violence shapes behavior, narrows resistance, stabilizes hierarchy, and underwrites indirect mechanisms even when force is not directly used.

Read More