How to understand power - Eric Liu

翻译人员: Stella Lin 校对人员: Tianshu Wang

Every day of your life,

在生命的每一天

you move through systems of power that other people made.

你都生活在由他人创造的权力系统中

Do you sense them?

你注意到过它们吗？

Do you understand power?

你了解权力吗？

Do you realize why it matters?

你知道为什么这很重要吗？

Power is something we are often uncomfortable talking about.

我们常常不愿意讨论权力

That's especially true in civic life, how we live together in community.

尤其在它涉及到公民生活，涉及到我们如何在一个团体中共存时

In a democracy, power is supposed to reside with the people, period.

在民主社会中，权力被认为属于人民，讨论结束。

Any further talk about power and who really has it

任何关于权力的深入讨论和谁真正拥有权力

seems a little dirty, maybe even evil.

似乎都显得有一点肮脏甚至邪恶

But power is no more inherently good or evil than fire or physics.

但权力和火或者其他物理现象一样，并不存在天生的好坏

It just is.

权力仅仅就是权力而已。

It governs how any form of government works.

权力规定了任何政府的运作方式

It determines who gets to determine the rules of the game.

它决定了谁来制定游戏规则。

So learning how power operates is key to being effective,

因此了解权力如何运作才能变得高效

being taken seriously, and not being taken advantage of.

才能不被人忽视，不被人利用。

In this lesson, we'll look at where power comes from,

在这一课中，我们就来了解一下权力从何而来，

how it's exercised and what you can do to become more powerful in public life.

如何使用权力，以及如何让自己在公共生活中变得更有权力。

Let's start with a basic definition.

让我们先从基本定义开始。

Power is the ability to make others do what you would have them do.

权力是一种让他人按照你的意愿行动的能力。

Of course, this plays out in all arenas of life,

当然，权力被运用在生活的方方面面。

from family to the workplace to our relationships.

从家庭，到工作场合，到人与人之间的关系。

Our focus is on the civic arena,

我们关注的是社会生活领域。

where power means getting a community to make the choices

此时权力指的是让公众按照你的意愿

and to take the actions that you want.

做出选择并且采取行动

There are six main sources of civic power.

社会权力主要来源于六个方面。

First, there's physical force and a capacity for violence.

第一是生理上的力量和实施暴力的能力

Control of the means of force, whether in the police or a militia,

无论警方还是民兵组织

权力最初体现在对各种武力的控制

is power at its most primal.

A second core source of power is wealth.

财富是权力的第二个主要来源

Money creates the ability to buy results and to buy almost any other kind of power.

钱能够买到成果和几乎所有其它的权力

The third form of power is state action, government.

政府行为是权力的第三种形式

This is the use of law and bureaucracy to compel people

利用法律和官僚来统治人民

to do or not do certain things.

规定人们能做什么，不能做什么

In a democracy, for example, we the people, theoretically,

在民主国家里，比如我们，人民在理论上，

give government its power through elections.

通过选举把权力交给政府

In a dictatorship, state power emerges from the threat of force,

在专政国家中，国家权力来自武力威胁

not the consent of the governed.

而不是人民对政府统治的许可

The fourth type of power is social norms or what other people think is okay.

权力的第四种形式是社会规范，也就是人们认为对的事情

Norms don't have the centralized machinery of government.

规范并不像政府那样，有中央集权的运作机构

They operate in a softer way, peer to peer.

它们有一套更温和的运作方式

They can certainly make people change behavior and even change laws.

它们确实能使人们改变行为，甚至改变法律

Think about how norms around marriage equality today are evolving.

想想当今关于婚姻公平的理念是如何发展的

The fifth form of power is ideas.

权力的第五种形式是信念

An idea, individual liberties, say, or racial equality,

一个信念，例如个人自由，或种族平等

can generate boundless amounts of power

如果能够驱动人们去改变他们的想法和行动

if it motivates enough people to change their thinking and actions.

便能创造出无限的权力

And so the sixth source of power is numbers, lots of humans.

因此，权力的第六种来源是数量，是大量的人

A vocal mass of people creates power by expressing

勇于发声的人民群众

collective intensity of interest

通过传达集体对权益的强烈关注和支持正义

and by asserting legitimacy.

来创造权力

Think of the Arab Spring or the rise of the Tea Party.

想一想阿拉伯之春和美国茶叶党的兴起

Crowds count.

便能看出群众是有力量的

These are the six main sources of power, what power is.

这就是权力的六种来源，也解释了什么是权力。

So now, let's think about how power operates.

现在，让我们思考一下权力是如何运作的

There are three laws of power worth examining.

三种权力定律值得我们探讨

Law number one: power is never static.

定律一，权力从来不是静态的

在公民领域，权力总是处于积累或衰弱的过程中

It's always either accumulating or decaying in a civic arena.

So if you aren't taking action, you're being acted upon.

你不采取行动，别人就要对你采取行动

Law number two: power is like water.

定律二：权力就像水一样

它像水流，流过我们的日常生活

It flows like a current through everyday life.

Politics is the work of harnessing that flow in a direction you prefer.

政治实际上就是把这股水流往你希望的方向引

政策的制定就是要把“权力水流“保持在一个特定的流向

Policymaking is an effort to freeze and perpetuate a particular flow of power.

政策是冻住的权力

Policy is power frozen.

定律三：权力会引发连锁反应

Law number three: power compounds.

Power begets more power, and so does powerlessness.

权力会导致更多权力，反之亦然

The only thing that keeps law number three from leading to a situation

定律三最终会导致所有的权力集中在一人手中

where only one person has all the power

想要阻止这种情况发生

is how we apply laws one and two.

就只能看我们如何运用定律一和定律二了

What rules do we set up so that a few people don't accumulate too much power,

我们应该制定什么样的规定来

避免少数人积累起过多的权力，从而在政治领域享有神圣的特权？

and so that they can't enshrine their privilege in policy?

这是一个关于民主的问题

That's the question of democracy,

and you can see each of these laws at work in any news story.

在每一条新闻中，你都能看到这三条定律在起着作用

低收入的工人组织要求更高的工资

Low wage workers organize to get higher pay.

Oil companies push to get a big pipeline approved.

石油公司争取大输油管道的批准

Gay and lesbian couples seek the legal right to marry.

同性恋者为同性婚姻的合法化呼喊

Urban parents demand school vouchers.

城市父母则要求得到教育补助金劵

You may support these efforts or not.

你可能支持或反对这些行为

你是否能够得到你想要的取决于你有多擅长运用你的权力

Whether you get what you want depends on how adept you are with power,

which brings us finally to what you can do to become more powerful in public life.

我们最终回到了你应如何使自己在公众生活中更加有权力这个命题

Here, it's useful to think in terms of literacy.

在这里，从文学的角度来思考有益于我们理解这个问题

Your challenge is to learn how to read power and write power.

你的挑战是学习如何阅读权力和书写权力

To read power means to pay attention to as many texts of power as you can.

阅读权力意味着你应该尽可能地多看有关权力的文本

我指的不仅仅是书籍

I don't mean books only.

I mean seeing society as a set of texts.

我的意思是把社会当做是一组文本

你不喜欢你发生在所在的学校、城市或乡村的事情？

Don't like how things are in your campus or city or country?

Map out who has what kind of power, arrayed in what systems.

标出什么人拥有什么权力，是由什么体系决定的

Understand why it turned out this way,

想想为什么事情会变成这个样子

who's made it so, and who wants to keep it so.

是谁让事情变成这个样子，又是谁想让事情保持现状

Study the strategies others in such situations used:

学习其他人在这种情况下使用的策略

frontal attack or indirection,

是直接进击还是采取迂回战术

coalitions or charismatic authority.

是利用联合力量还是魅力型权威

Read so you may write.

阅读是为了写作

To write power requires first that you believe you have the right to write,

书写权力首先要求你相信自己有书写的权利

to be an author of change.

去主导改变

You do.

你确实有

在任何一种写作中，你都要学会去表达自己

As with any kind of writing, you learn to express yourself,

说出自己真实的想法

speak up in a voice that's authentic.

Organize your ideas, then organize other people.

组织好你的观点，再组织起其他人

练习如何建立统一

Practice consensus building.

练习如何面对矛盾

Practice conflict.

As with writing, it's all about practice.

就像写作一样，练习是不二法则

Every day you have a chance to practice, in your neighborhood and beyond.

每天你都会有机会在你的邻居之间或之外进行练习

Set objectives, then bigger ones.

设立一些目标，再设立更大的目标

Watch the patterns, see what works.

看看哪种形式起作用

Adapt, repeat.

不断运用

This is citizenship.

这就是公民

In this short lesson, we've explored where civic power comes from,

在这堂短课中，我们学习了权力的由来

how it works and what you can do to exercise it.

权力的运作方式和我们可以怎么实施权力

One big question remaining is the "why" of power.

还有一个重要问题，为什么要有权力？

Do you want power to benefit everyone or only you?

你想用权力来为造福大众，还是仅仅为了自己的好处？

Are your purposes pro-social or anti-social?

你的目的是有利于社会的还是反社会的？

This question isn't about strategy.

这个问题无关策略

而关于人的品性，这就是另一堂课了

It's about character, and that's another set of lessons.

But remember this:

但记住

权力加上品性等于好公民

Power plus character equals a great citizen,

而你有这个能力去当一个好公民

and you have the power to be one.