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Penn 1 North Plaza, Manhattan (image taken by me, 27 April 2024)

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When I think of the "disciplinary domain" of power, I think about the design and regulation of public spaces. According to their name, these are spaces open to "the public": they don't require you to purchase a coffee to access a seat, and there's no limit for how long you can stay. Except... As these rules stipulate, certain uses -like sleeping- are prohibited. If followed to the letter, I should have been prevented from "storing or placing personal property on the ground" while I was schlepping my luggage through this plaza and sitting down to rest. But my body - white, middle class, middle-aged - goes unquestioned in this space. By contrast, bodies that are read as poor or unhoused, or there "without purpose"*, are targeted by these regulations. *According to Hermer & Fonarev (2020), "The prohibition on loitering is sometimes specifically against ‘lingering’ or standing around somewhere ‘without an apparent purpose’" see: https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/mapping-vagrancy-type-offences-municipal-laws

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I understand hegemonic power as standards made by a group to put their existence on a pedestal while justifying their oppression of groups seen as "other." I see this play out in my everyday life through conversations with classmates who shame people who identify outside the gender binaries, or the pressures placed onto women to get married and have children by family members. These conversations don't just further embed norms into society, but they also make other identities or ideas seem less than in comparison. And hegemonic power has a place in every aspect of life which creates major power imbalances between those who are accepted by society (fit standards), and those who are excluded (don't meet standards).

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I understand the structural domain of power as laws and policies that are created and implemented by a select few people who do not consider the lived experiences of those who will be impacted by these laws and policies. The structural domain of power operating in my life becomes apparent when considering my grandparents. My family is from Lithuania and my mom immigrated to Canada, as my grandparents got older, she decided to bring them to Canada too, both my mom and grandparents are immigrants here. Because my grandparents received permanent residence status (a form of citizenship) in Canada, the Lithuanian government has stopped paying their hard-earned pensions. Lithuanian law has decided that once someone gains citizenship in another country they should no longer be entitled to Lithuanian benefits. The problem is that these laws don’t account for the lived experiences of people. My grandparents need their pensions to be able to afford the cost of living in Canada. These laws and policies have had profound impacts on their lives and have further oppressed them for being in the “lower class” and for being immigrants.

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Structural power refers to the institutionalized norms, regulations, and practices that consistently give certain groups more privileges than others. These norms are shaped by organizational, educational, political, and economic structures that have historically been designed to support dominant groups and marginalize others based on factors such as ability, sexual orientation, gender, race, and other intersecting identities. Examples of structural injustices include the disproportionate number of Native American, Black, and Latinx students attending underfunded schools, wealth disparity across races, lack of economic mobility, and high poverty rates in Black and Brown areas. These disparities are closely linked to life expectancy, maternal mortality rates, and health outcomes across racial and socioeconomic categories.

As a woman of colour, I observe structural power at work in both covert and overt ways, highlighting the underrepresentation of some identities and the normalization of others. Structural power disparities, which favour dominant groups, are responsible for the underrepresentation of some identities and the normalization of others. Despite personal bias and interpersonal discrimination, systemic disadvantages sustained by structural power are often overlooked by members of privileged groups. It is crucial to investigate and demolish these repressive systems to establish a just society for all.

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I understood hegemonic power as how the dominant group in society controls cultural norms and values. Unlike structural power, which is found in institutions, hegemonic power shapes what we see as normal or acceptable without using force. It influences our beliefs and behaviours to maintain the current roles in society. In everyday life, hegemonic power is in media, education, and societal norms and show what is deemed normal or acceptable. Ads and movies often show certain beauty standards, like certain beauty standards as ideal. This affects how people feel about themselves and enforces societal standards, excluding those who don’t fit these ideals. Society also implements what behaviours are okay for different genders. For example, boys might be encouraged to be strong and not show emotions, while girls might be encouraged to be caring and soft. These expectations limit individuals' potential and reinforce gender inequality.

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Disciplinary power involves how an institution sets rules and enforces behaviour. It involves how institutions set rules and enforce behaviour. This type of power can be seen in schools, workplaces, or the criminal justice system. For example, schools often have stricter punishments for disadvantaged students, leading to higher suspension and expulsion rates among these groups. This can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, where students who are frequently disciplined in school are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system. Employers use surveillance and monitoring tools in workplaces to ensure employees follow the rules and maintain productivity. This constant oversight can create a stressful work environment and limit personal freedom. The criminal justice system also exemplifies disciplinary power, particularly in how it disproportionately targets communities of colour. Practices like racial profiling, excessive policing, and higher incarceration rates for these communities perpetuate systemic racism and maintain social control. Recognizing disciplinary power helps us understand how these institutional practices regulate behaviour, reinforce existing power structures, and contribute to ongoing social inequalities.

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To me, my understanding of structural power looks at the way that society is organised. Making it harder for any marginalized community to lean on systems that are meant to support everyone. One example could be as making health care related services harder to access for those marginalised communities due to either the inaccessability of the location of the service or the requirements needed in order to be approved.

There was one day where I had to run errands after work but my ankle was very sore. A friend was able to borrow an extra wheelchair and she took me around to pick up the items I needed. We went to just one store and it was a short trip, but it was shocking to realize just how hard it was to navigate that particular store. There were certain isles the wheelchair would not fit down on, and when we tried to go through the self checkout it was extremely difficult for me to reach the screen as well as the pin pad. I ended up handing my card to my friend to finish the transaction because it was extremely difficult. After that one time trip using the wheelchair, it truly gave me a whole new look when I went into stores and just how accessible and friendly they really are.

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The Structural Domain is a term used to describe polices and structures put in force to understand and indicate uses of oppression. This structure was used to understand laws and polices in place and further develop organizations. Putting people of minority’s at the forefront, protecting their quality of life and their rights. Personally being a minority I see this Domain effecting my everyday life, from being able to have an education, voting. Secondary to being a minority I am also a woman, so having opportunities to own land, and have a career is an element to this domain as well.

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Structural power is used many ways all over the world. The key concept behind it, is how it gives order and discipline to communities. Take the voting system for example, we use it to form order in communities and find a solution towards a better future. We have different types of parties that preach different values in which they would like to instil in the community (Liberal, Conservative and NDP Parties). We then have leaders that come and speak on behalf of the entire party as a representative. When it comes time for an election the country we live in decides who will be more dominant in the parliament and has the power to implement different policies and laws that fit the description of what they preach for.. taxes, minimum wage, education system and environment spaces.

As a woman of colour who has experienced ‘Structural power’ in the workplace. I can firmly agree that our country as a whole has a little bit to go still. I’ve experienced countless racist comments and many more about my culture and family from people i worked with who were a different colour than me. This goes to show that our school need to implement more educators towards kids in high schools, and educate them on more important things then skin colour or family origins.

Furthermore, Structural Power is good in many ways but also can be taken for granted. Having leaders and communities that agree together on the liberalities of the people, then we can successfully lead a powerful country with a strong front.

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The hegemonic domain refers to the practices of consolidating patriarchal power by propagandizing through mainstream media and manipulating public opinion. The dominant class tries to convince that their interests are the common interest, while they are not. For me, the most obvious case is the expectation imposed on unmarried women that they should marry and have a family. My cousin, a 27-year-old female in a relationship but feeling unprepared for marriage, has consistently been complained about by my aunt for not getting married and not giving birth. In contrast, such anxiety is rarely imposed on males. This expectation that "females should get married and give birth" is often reinforced through mainstream media. Some television dramas have the narrative that "older males are more popular in the marriage market while older females will be 'uncompetitive women'". An example of this is the TVB show "My Sheng Lady" (Bounty Lady, romance comedy). The title "Sheng" refers to "being left" in Chinese, indicating that the female antagonist is a woman who did not get married at a 'expected' age.

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The hegemonic domain, from my perspective, concerns itself with the control and manipulation of the public conscious towards any particular subject. I understand the hegemonic domain under the terms of hegemonic science, and more specifically, within hegemonic psychology. I believe that one way in which the hegemonic ideas is perpetuated is through the scientific process within psychology. Through psychology, we may believe that we study and uncover certain ideas about human behaviour. However, as we see in Invisible Woman, there are often significant issues with data gaps and biased methods of data collection that lead to the erasure of gender and racial minorities within statistics. When scientists publish their results and generalize their claims on some universalized concept of human behaviour, in reality, they may be perpetuating ideas of human behaviour that are only representative of a small hegemonic group that is allowed to participate within the scientific process. I believe that there are many more facets at play here, from the way objectivity is idealized, to how qualitative methods are criticized, and to the reductive nature of measurement scales, I feel that science plays a large role in the hegemonic domain.

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Hey, this is Ashley Pezeshk,

Based on Patricia's work, she introduces the Matrix of Domination to describe how it ensures the maintenance of the privileged people in power while keeping the minority groups oppressed. One example (out of the four domains) is interpersonal power -which I'm sure almost everyone has experienced. To my understandings, interpersonal power is our own experiences of oppression or how someone can control another or keep them oppressed. An example from a lot of cases I've read about in the media is a rich husband denying their stay-at-home wife money if they don't behave the way they want her to act. This to me is a kind of financial abuse and an example of interpersonal power within the matrix of domination when considering financial power and relationships. However, in every day life, this can even be seen when you are not getting the same privileges and rights as others. For example how a women's opinions are not taken seriously among her male co-workers