Some of it might be an issue of training. At one point I got a degree in social work (though I’m not actively using it right now). And my program did teach the usual concepts of empowerment and self-deterimination. But one of the things I think the program did right was that they tried to make us conscious that any time a social worker and a client are paired together (and you could substitute any professional for the term “social worker”), there is already INHERENTLY an imbalance of power. And as CT says here (and as Ballastexistenz says more indirectly but very eloquently) it is the moral and ethical and professonal obligation of the social worker (or substitute perferred term here) to avoid abusing their power, and avoid creating a situation where a client is going to feel obligated to do or say certain things simply to please the professional.

Sometimes this can be tricky. Even when their training may be basically pretty good, some people are just too resistant to the idea that THEY could ever hold (or abuse) power to really absorb the idea that they have to watch out for how the built-in power imbalance affects their client in potentially harmful ways. (I have met some social work students who seemed to think that simply not wanting to hold power over their clients, or simply believing that their clients were inherently equal and had the right to make their own decisions, necessarily by itself could obliviate the insidious effects of power imbalance.) Or even when they are better conscious of these issues, they might still not know how to address it due to lack of experience, or due to lack of continued appropriate training in this area under their supervisors. They may think that they’re able to identify when a client is just “going along,” or that they’re “clearly communicating respect for the client’s self-deterimination” or whatever, but may lack the experience and more in-depth training or appropriate supervision (with a supervisor who knows how to guide the social worker in addressing these issues) to recognize the dynamics that are REALLY going on from the client’s perspective.

Hope this makes sense. This is not to defend the people who are simply unethical or unprofessional. Or the ones who irresponsibly assume that good intentions are good enough. I just wanted to point out that there are multiple reasons why even a well-intended professional who THINKS they are paying attention to power dynamics may still behave in ways that end up oppressing instead of empowering.

One issue might be lack of awareness of (or training in) issues that come up with clients who have been institutionalized. Ballastexistenz has spoken elsewhere in this blog (or maybe I’m thinking of her interview with Lisa, which I think is transcribed elsewhere) about how institutionalization can “train” (or intimidate) some people into a kind of submissiveness. I would guess that would tend to make them even more vulnerable in future to even the most subtle misuses of power–because they’ve already been conditioned not to resist. Maybe part of the problem is that more professionals (and non-professional staff) need to be trained to pick up on this kind of issue and how to deal with that so that a consumer can REALLY feel able to make their own choices — not just pretend to make choices that they think the professional wants them to make so the professional can go away thinking they’ve exercised self-deterimination when they haven’t.

Sorry for blathering. I’m speaking (ok, writing) off the cuff here, so if I sound a little disorganized that’s why.

I think it is because people tend to put extraordinary value in things that are a sure thing. That is, someone who thinks divorce is out of the question becomes enraged when it is raised as apossible outcome. Someone who is in an unchallengable postion of authority (say, a major CEO) becomes enraged when the challenge does come (say, for tax evasion). And someone who is certain beyond any doubt that he or she is a Good Person becomes enraged when the question of whether this is true comes up.

I think it’s typical to want to be certain about things. But I also think it is very dangerous not to try to be at least a little uncertain when you are in a position of power. That may take some creativity to figure out what works for you, but that should be just a part of the responsibility that comes with the power.