4 ms·
The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control.
by claudiawerner 8y ago
The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. These systems often appear natural and wield powerful ideologies. This was discussed since the early 50s and continued into the studies of Althusser, Marcuse, Debord (Society of the Spectacle) and the like. They allege no sinister concrete plot, only awareness of the very real motions of a system abstracted away from any individual or group, and that includes any and every politician, CEO, etc.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. No, it doesn't. It means a lot, as is evident in the effect of Presidents on the actual behavior of government. Yes, there are legal, bureaucraticd traditional constraints on Presidential power (but the Presidential power also extends to altering all of those things, though not arbitrarily and instantly.)