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Axcel Verango

Mr. Frieden

English II H

24 October 2019

The Effects of Power and Status

“Power lies in holding a formal position of authority or controlling important resources.

Status involves being respected or admired.” What the famous author, Adam Grant, was trying to

get at was that both can heavily impact personal relationships. Power and status impact personal

relationships in both positive and negative ways that can either hurt or benefit bond between the

two depending on what type of person/group they are. Some ways that both of those factors

might impact personal relationships include how one might abuse their power over the other

individual in the relationship, how it can encourage one to do good, and how it can apply to you

in a situation at school.

To start it all off, depending on the person, the way someone might use power and status

varies. One good example is to think of Napoleon from Animal Farm as the one with more

power and the other animals in the farm as the weaker person in the relationship. On page 53 &

54 of Animal Farm, Napoleon uses his “nine enormous dogs that wore brass-studded collars”

that made the animals “too amazed and frightened to speak” as his source of power. This is only

just one of the many instances where Napoleon uses and abuses his power to benefit himself

throughout the story.

On the other hand, some individuals might use their power and status for good. Think of

the Chinese government, having the higher status and power, as the more dominant person in the
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relationship, whereas the people are the weaker one it the relationship. Another way you can

think of it is with chores. If you don’t do them by the time your parents expect them to be done,

you’re going to get at least some punishment. The Chinese government encourages their people

to behave with the help of their Social Credit System that “aims to punish for transgressions that

can include membership in or support for the Falun Gong or Tibetan Buddhism, failure to pay

debts, excessive video gaming, criticizing the government, late payments, failing to sweep the

sidewalk in front of your store or house, smoking or playing loud music on trains, jaywalking,

and other actions deemed illegal or unacceptable by the Chinese government.” The way the

Chinese government uses power and status to control the public is more of a positive outcome

that would benefit both sides and we can see that throughout the whole article.

Furthermore, the concepts of power and status can apply/tie into a situation you can have

at school. Similar to the Chinese government's way of getting people to behave stated in the

Social Credit article, schools would usually do something along those lines too in order to keep

students behaving Every student and staff member has been told the ground rules and what

consequences you can face when caught breaking them. Another good example is how the

punishments you face in highschool can and probably will affect you later on in the future. Let’s

say that you’ve gotten maybe around 10 detentions throughout your highschool life, it can affect

whether you get the job or even get accepted into a college of your choice because people tend to

look into your record and if it’s not that good, that just lowers your chances of getting accepted.

To top it all off, the concepts of power and status in relationships can vary based on the

type of person/group they are. In the real world, there are times when people abuse their power

for their own benefit and times when people use their power for everyone's benefit. Everyone’s
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actions differ if they were given the opportunity of gaining power and status in a relationship and

that’s why the effects are unpredictable.