> I've read pretty frequently that when you start conceptualizing your marriage in terms of power structures, you may as well draw up the divorce papers, becaus

> I've read pretty frequently that when you start conceptualizing your marriage in terms of power structures, you may as well draw up the divorce papers, because that endeavor is no longer productive. This is an interesting conversation, and I think my counterargument would be that governments, marriage, and other such institutions (schools, etc.) are not what I would consider "productive" endeavors, but rather "sociopolitical" ones†. In those cases, I agree that power imbalances are extremely detrimental to their goal. A military is different in that regard (and so is a corporation). You're right that if the power differential becomes oppressive, you'll have a mutiny, but that's neither here nor there. (The contrapositive is if there's a zero power differential you have anarchy.) † I'm not sure where courts would stand. They're probably a special case of societal institution that also requires power differentials.