Power and the Desire for Connections
When the word power is mentioned, some may instantly think
of philosopher Sir Francis Bacon’s famous saying “knowledge is power” or
Plato’s “the measure of a man is what he
does with power”. But what is power to an individual? Where and how can one
exercise power? Is power really knowledge or actions of a person in certain
situations? Ultimately, under different
influences or circumstance, a definition of the nature of power may vary. And
as discovered in week two and three lectures and readings, power is not a
‘thing’ but a ‘relation’; it is the notion that power plays an instrumental
role in establishing networks of connections between people, either socially or
individually.
One way in which power of ‘relations’ is exercised and illustrated
is through virtual social networks such as
eHarmony. From an outside perspective, this is as an individual who has never
used or thought about using eHarmony, I see this network as a give and take of
power situation.
When a person signs up for eHarmony, that individual has
the power either to bend or to tell the truth about who they are as a person to
match with another member based on the “29 dimensions of compatibility’ (eHarmony.com) .
While they have the power to present themselves as they please, they are also submitting
under an expertise power. From reading the evaluation by John Bridges in his book on
online dating, he discusses how in search
for a compatible partner cause many to spent huge amount of money on sites such as
eHarmony only to have many failed dates. Furthermore, the book mentions that the people
join social networks such as eHarmony because they want to believe the expert advices
provided by founders of this social network who are very knowledgeable in these
subject areas.
By believing that they can trust the expertise and
scientific research of the founders they enter a different space outside their
usual surroundings to explore interaction from a different perspective. There is
no better way to explain this notion then the story of Paul Tillich as
mentioned by Tuan (1977 p.6) in the ‘Space and Place’ reading. Tillich was used
to living in small restricted space in small ‘narrow town’ and as a breath of
fresh air he made small trips to Berlin and experienced the ‘the feeling of
openness, infinity, unrestricted place’.
Hence when a person decides to join eHarmony, that person
is constantly checking to see if there is a compatible partner to establish
that desired connection promised on the site. By doing so, as Tuan describes
(1977 p.6) “what begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to
know it better and endow in with value” The more that individual hopes and
checks for compatible matches, the more
value is placed in this social networking place. The more value is placed in eHarmony, the
closer of “proximity and reach’ (Allen,2003) it becomes to a person. How much
value can a person place on eHarmony and how does one feel when more power is
given then received? From week three to week eight, eHarmony will be under
observation in relation to authoritative and expert powers that empowers and
dis-empower eHarmony.
REFERENCES
Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of
place, lecture 2: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://learnjcu.edu.au
Tuan, Y. (1977). Space
and Place; Perspective of Experience . London, Great Britain: Edward Arnold
Ltd.
Allen, J. (2003). Lost
of Geographies of Power.UK: Blackwell.
Bridges, C. J (2012). The
Illusions of Intimacy; Problems in the World of Online Dating. [eBook
version]. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_8zdpVEK7akC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=academic+review+on+eharmony&source=bl&ots=5JZ6kbLSyg&sig=1iOuYRuRIhxlYh806ZYJuwUrSZo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk_uev98_VAhXGlZQKHT_MCLIQ6AEIVzAH#v=onepage&q=academic%20review%20on%20eharmony&f=false
eHarmony. (2017). Engineering Love. [Image] Retrieved fromhttp://www.eharmony.com/engineering/#.WY1gjFEjHIUd
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