14. Power Capacitors
Power Capacitors are accumulative capital that serve as potential mechanisms of Power, as either Weapons or Tools. Capacitors, whether material or otherwise, and be combined in a number of different ways to provide an advantage to actors in the process of Boundary Negotiation.
There are a bajillion different types of Capacitors, all of which have context-sensitive and relationally determined values. Even though they can be (and often are) mixed, there is no clear exchange rate because of that. So, let's get into some different Capacitors first and discuss some generalizations afterward:
Economic
Economic capital allows someone to fulfill many of life’s basic needs, including food, shelter, and transportation. Wealth accumulation, from money to stocks and other assets, is the most tangible Capacitor due to its very clear ability to be quantified.
In a zero-sum economy with finite resources, accumulation of this Capacitor (Concentration) is at the expense of another (Deprivation). And idk, it's tricky when wealth and debt both have inherent properties that further entrench the status of one's economic capital... you know, interest and whatnot. Wealth-generating doors are often inaccessible to those who already lack wealth.
Anyway, here's an interesting website that visualizes disparities: https://realtimeinequality.org/
Social
Social capital. Relationships, friends, networks, club affiliations, etc.
Informational
Informational capital is access to and utilization of knowledge. Is leveraged most frequently for normalization and repression. Higher for folks who produce/share knowledge and can set the terms of "truth" for others. Not an exhaustive list but includes:
- Folks who have a wide audience/platform/reach, like the media or online influencers
- Those with credibility or formal credentials, like academia or government
- Authority figures like employers, as described by Gaventa's Power and Powerlessness.
- Those who exchange their economic capital for it, like advertisers
- Those who make the rules/algorithms on digital platforms
Oh, and I should also probably discuss the relative value of information, because 12GB military documents =/= 12GB of Twilight fanfiction
Political
Political capital is correlated with one's ability to shape institutions through law and regulation.
- To super oversimplify it, imagine it as the President having 1,000 political capital and the average voter having like 1.
- This obviously gets way more complicated when you factor in voter initiatives, interest groups, etc... and how economic capital can often translate to more political capital but not always
Since it impacts institutions, it can result in significant changes to the Dominant Realm directly (e.g., X thing is now illegal) or can impact the accumulation of another Capacitor (e.g., X group now pays fewer taxes).
- We can pretty much associate this with any of the institutional effects actually, like formalizing categories - go see that Realm Enforcers section for more
- It also enables someone to set the agenda, as Bachrach & Baratz explore, repressing the voices or needs of certain groups... I'll probably talk about voter disenfranchisement on the deprivation page, not sure yet.
Cultural
Cultural capital is correlated with one's familiarity with, and ability to shape, culture. Sorry, will have to come back here after some more Bourdieu.
Symbolic
Symbolic capital is another write-up that'll take a little while, but those who are interested in this one will probably want to keep their eyes on the pages for Myths, Mythoscapes, and Heterodoxy.
Dominant
AND LASTLY(?), dominant capital is essentially how closely one reflects the Dominant Realm... So this would include stuff like physical ability, being neurotypical, being subscribed to the dominant Mythoscapes, etc...