'Domination delegates the physical violence on which it rests to the dominated.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Those in power shift the need for physical force onto those they dominate.
- In plain terms
- Power lets the powerful avoid direct violence.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize how oppression can be indirect.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does indirect violence manifest today?
- What can reduce delegated oppression?
Another view
Some power structures rely on overt force.
More from Theodor Adorno
'Dialectic thought is an attempt to break through the coercion of logic by its own means.'
Permalink to quote #18 'Estrangement shows itself precisely in the elimination of distance between people.'
Permalink to quote #20 'But he who dies in despair has lived his whole life in vain.'
Permalink to quote #17
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