Taking the Role of the Other in Submission

The general issue addressed in the present discussion concerns the ways in which interaction within systems can be determined by forces, processes, and media apparently beyond the voluntary control of individuals. The particular focus in this regard is the medium of power. We will ask whether and how the exercise of power, especially subjection to power, can potentiate interaction such that particular types of interaction tend to occur with a significantly higher degree of probability than others. We will argue that the addition of subjection to power as a potential to interaction can lead to specific types of meaning being constituted in interaction that may facilitate the functioning and propagation of power. In this respect, looking at ourselves through the eyes of the other becomes the dominant mode of self-reflection such that we become, on the level of interaction, what the other wants us to be.