Perceptual Symbols Of Power

Many of the most pervasive forms of power in a society exist in symbolic form, as visual representations that convey particular meanings. Such symbols abound in addition to textual or verbal attempts to transmit power. They are commonly found in art and design, in architecture and city planning, in the mass media, in advertising, in the conduct and attire of political office holders, or in public rituals and ceremonies—the latter referred to by Pierre Bourdieu as legitimation through social magic. The perceived iconography of symbols constructs and allocates variable meaning to the social world—a significant act of power—but their diverse interpretation also allots power to their viewers to accept or reject those effects, eliciting unanticipated responses. Space and structure offer compelling ideological maps of ranking and significance; content, color, size, rhythm, and movement confer emotional impact and urgency through feelings such as awe, fear, empathy, pleasure, or pride. The impact of such symbols is often immediate and simplistic, as in military parades, police uniforms, or press photography, but it may be multilayered and complex, as in techniques of commercial marketing or images of national identity. Those who absorb the meanings embedded in such practices and objects may be conscious or unaware of their influence, just as those who fashion such symbols may do so deliberately or unintentionally.

Obvious symbols of power are manifest in propaganda, of which the poster is the most typical. Posters focusing on war aims, support, and recruitment, or those disseminating the “heroic” achievements of the Soviet Union are among the best-known state-initiated varieties. Ideological mobilization for national ends is also conducted through ceremonies—in which totalitarian societies have excelled—such as the massive and emotionally overwhelming choreographed displays at Nazi Nuremberg rallies in the 1930s. Publicly funded documentaries and newsreels have delivered slightly more subtle propaganda-cum-information messages. Films and television discharge similar roles through fact and fiction; newspapers seek to inform, persuade, and shock through photography and layout, and notably employ the political cartoon as a long-established critical opinion former. Videotapes circulated by terrorist organizations have strong affective impacts, exuding menace as well as evoking the countervailing power of resistance.

Monumental urban architecture also transmits unambiguous power messages. Some edifices reinforce authority and rank priorities of public prestige: statues of political and military leaders, royal palaces, parliaments and palaces of justice, and the grand avenues and squares that augment them. The dimensions, design, and location of those structures can be decoded as ideological maps of hierarchy and of national values and identity, while cathedrals have performed similar power-and awe-inspiring roles in the field of religion.

Art may express the power of nature or of the supernatural, but the communication of social power through art can take the shape of a visual manifesto, as frequently as not challenging as well as underpinning social order. Public power involves not only competitions over the control of political language but over the appropriation of political visions of the future. Their artistic representation is a major means of creating and disseminating a political ideology, including seductive utopias as appealing alternatives to present existence. Perceptions of power may also be aural: national anthems are intended to evoke communal feelings of allegiance and loyalty, both of which are central to the support that centers of political power require in order to function.

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