The Culture of Power

It wasn’t until class (Issues in Literacy for Diverse Learners) that I learned a labeled name for the group of select people/culture/belief systems that maintain control over others (see it was more difficult to describe before I learned the term ‘culture of power’).

The culture of power controls and maintains power by implementing and replicating ideologies that preserve the idea that there is only one “correct” culture/language/belief system and all others are wrong or primitive. And the power of culture for the United States is mainly comprised of Western European/”Caucasian” belief systems. Interestingly the people who are in the culture of power don’t “see” it, and the people who are not in the culture of power are painfully aware of its existence. For example, the near extermination of Indian culture in the early history of the United States clearly demonstrates the culture of power’s ability to control and dominant. In “Learning ‘The Language the Presidents Speak’: Images and Issues of Literacy in American Indian Literature” by Kimberly M. Blaeser, she describes the concept of Orientalism – “my sameness and its otherness” – and how this idea maintains the superiority of Western European/Anglo-Saxon culture and the inferiority of all others. Making these distinctions and following the idea of Orientalism during the colonization of Indian nations justified the colonizers actions; they were doing “good” by converting the Indians because the Indians were classified as primitive, heathen, even subhuman. As you know, there are many examples of these atrocities occurring throughout history and I’m sure that you can think of many others, even many that are occurring today in modern America and around the world.

Obviously the culture of power is still influential and maintaining hold of modern society. As a teacher, I need to be aware of the culture of power and its expansive influences over my students’ lives, including my own. I need to maintain clarity of the culture of power’s influences on school districts and their policies and how it will affect student learning and intellectual/developmental growth.

Personally, I was aware of the culture of power, however, I didn’t have a name for it – it was (to me) the controlling ideologies and culture in society and it was just part of life. And that is exactly what the culture of power wants people to believe, which is why there is a culture of power. I’m sure that there are other countries with their own culture(s) of power, but who said that I, or even the United States, need to be like everyone else – all cultures and societies are different, however, variation doesn’t create inferiority; all cultures are equally valuable – no matter the differences.