Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Appendix H; <br /> Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Glossary <br /> DIVERISITY, EQUITY • • - <br /> POLITICS, POWER & PRIVILEGE <br /> • Politics— 1)The struggle for or over power. 2)The struggle to attain, maintain, <br /> build or take power. <br /> Power- 1)The ability to name or define. 2)The ability to decide. 3)The ability the <br /> set the rule, standard, or policy. 4)The ability to change the rule, standard, or policy to <br /> serve your needs, wants or desires. 5)The ability to influence decisions makers to make <br /> choices in favor of your cause, issue or concern. <br /> • Types of Power <br /> Each of these definitions of power can manifest on personal, social, institutional, or <br /> structural levels. <br /> a. Personal Power— 1)Self-determination. 2) Power that an individual <br /> possesses or builds in their personal life and interpersonal relationships. <br /> Example: When a person chooses a new name for themselves rather than the one given to <br /> them, this is an act of personal power. <br /> b. Social Power — 1) Communal self-determination. 2) A grassroots collective <br /> organization of personal power. 3) Power that social groups possess or build <br /> among themselves to determine and shape their collective lives. <br /> Example: Over the last few years individuals who identify as multiracial or multiethnic have <br /> used their social power to name themselves into existence and build a community around <br /> the shared experience of being multiracial or multiethnic. The growing social power of the <br /> multiracial/multiethnic community is a direct challenge to institutions premised on a binary <br /> understanding of race (i.e., you are either this or that.) <br /> c. Institutional Power— 1) Power to create and shape the rules, policies and <br /> actions of an institution. 2)To have institutional power is to be a decision <br /> maker or to have great influence upon a decision maker of an institution. <br /> Example: A school principal or the PTO of a local school have institutional power at that <br /> school. <br /> d. Structural Power-To have structural power is to create and shape the <br /> rules, policies, and actions that govern multiple and intersecting institutions <br /> or an industry. <br /> Example: The city school board, mayor, and the Secretary of Education have structural <br /> power in the educational industry. <br /> 2019 COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 73 <br />