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There is no formal police force of social norms because no such organization is necessary. From mass society arises a self-enforcing slavery.

One might picture a chessboard that sprawls as far as the eye can see with a king on every square. Every king is controlled by a different player.

In a mass society, one must behave a certain way or be punished by one’s neighbors. One’s neighbors must enforce or be punished by their neighbors for not enforcing. Such a system of bondage self-perpetuates:
Each individual king is compelled in turn, everyone coercing everyone else. This is Collective Checkmate.

One Comment

  1. Interesting, what you describe here is reminiscent of the work of Foucault. It is inadequate to understand the power which promotes conformity as a force which operates from the top down, but is contained within the web of relations between people at all levels. Thus everyone regulates everyone else, and the individual becomes self-regulating.


One Trackback/Pingback

  1. By Collective Checkmate | Neurodiversity on 31 Jan 2011 at 6:16 am

    [...] Collective Checkmate appears here by permission. [...]

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