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Do you often say that the authorities are to blame for your problems? For many people, the position of «offended children» is convenient. It allows you to take responsibility off yourself, not to make efforts to make your life better. Why do we, like little ones, wait for someone to suddenly come and make us happy? And how does it harm us?
The term «power» has many definitions. All of them as a whole come down to one thing: this is the ability to dispose of and impose your will on other people. The first contacts of a person with power (parental) occur in childhood. His future position in relation to authoritative figures of various levels also depends on this experience.
Our interaction with the authorities is studied by social psychology. Scientists have found that any group of people in the same territory goes through standard stages of development. They were researched and studied at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Therefore, in order to reveal the general patterns of today, it is enough to look back and study history.
Functions of power
With all the variety of functions of power, we can single out two main areas — this is the protection and prosperity of the people entrusted to it.
Let us assume that a person in power has the qualities of a good leader. He is responsible for the group of people entrusted to him. If it is in danger (for example, the people are threatened by an external enemy), then he takes action to preserve the benefits of this group as much as possible. “Turns on” defense, supports isolation and cohesion.
In favorable times, such a leader ensures the development of the group and its prosperity, so that each of its members is as good as possible.
And the main task of an empowered person is to distinguish one situation from another.
Why are the parents here?
The two main directions for state power are to ensure the protection and prosperity of the people, and for the parent — by analogy, the safety and development of the child.
Up to a certain stage, significant adults guess our needs for us: provide security, feed, regulate activity and sleep times, form attachments, teach, set boundaries. And if a person was “guessed” too much, and then stopped, then he will be in a crisis.
What is autonomy? When an adult is aware of himself and distinguishes where his motives and thoughts are, and where — another person. He listens to his desires, but at the same time he recognizes other people’s values and the fact that people can have their own opinion. Such a person is able to enter into negotiations and take into account the interests of others.
If we have not separated from our parents and become autonomous, then we have few or no life supports. And then in any stressful situation, we will wait for the help of an authoritative figure. And we will be greatly offended if this figure does not fulfill the functions that we assign to it. So our personal relationships with authorities reflect the stages we have not passed in our relationship with our parents.
Why do people need a leader in a crisis
When we are stressed, we:
- Slow thinking
Any stress or crisis implies a change in conditions. When circumstances change, we do not immediately understand how to act in a new situation for ourselves. Because there are no ready-made solutions. And, as a rule, in an environment of severe stress, a person regresses. That is, it «rolls back» in development, losing the ability to autonomy and self-recognition.
- We are looking for supports
That is why all kinds of conspiracy theories are popular in different crisis situations. People need to find some explanation for what is happening, and there is too much information. If at the same time a person does not know how to rely on his own feelings and values, he begins to greatly simplify the system and create new points of support. In his anxiety, he seeks authority and reassures himself that there are some “they” who are responsible for everything that happens. Thus the psyche fights against chaos. And it’s much easier to have a «terrible» power figure than just worrying endlessly and not knowing who to lean on.
- We lose the adequacy of perception
At critical political moments, crises and pandemics, people’s ability to apothenia increases. This state, in which a person begins to see the relationship between random events or data, fills the facts with a special meaning. Apophenia is often used to explain the paranormal.
A historical example: in 1830, the so-called cholera riots swept Russia. The peasants seriously believed that the government sent doctors to the provinces on purpose to infect them with cholera and thus reduce the number of mouths. History, as you can see, repeats itself. Against the backdrop of the 2020 pandemic, conspiracy theories and apothenia also flourished.
Where is the government looking?
Yes, the government is not perfect, no government can satisfy the needs of all the citizens of its country. Yes, there is the concept of a social contract, according to which the government is expected to ensure global peace and security. But there is also the concept of personal responsibility for one’s life, work, for all decisions and actions taken. For your own well-being, after all.
And, in fact, when the government is blamed for crises and all mortal sins, this is a regressive position. This pattern of relationships repeats what was laid in us in early childhood: when there is only my suffering and there is someone who is responsible for my well-being or, on the contrary, trouble. Whereas any autonomous adult understands that responsibility for his life and choice is largely determined by himself.