Who Is the Boss of You?

Chapter 10.1: Authority and Equality

Chapter 10
Who Is the Boss of You?
Authority and Equality

• Authority

  • What is it?

    • Potestas

    • Auctoritas

    • Definitions

  • A Taxonomy of Authority

    • Coercive and Consensual Authority

    • Parental Authority

  • Hereditary Authority: The End of an Error

    • Where did it come from?

    • Where did it go?

  • A proof

• Ontological equality

Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences. No king bosses Pa; he has to boss himself. Why…when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do, and there isn’t anyone else who has a right to give me orders. I will have to make myself be good.

— Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie

10.1
Authority

Sally stood, arms akimbo, and said, defiantly, Hey—you’re not the boss of me!

Plenty of kids have said that, or the equivalent, over the years. Children recognize the concept of authority from a young age. They might not be able to define exactly what authority is, but they sure-as-sugar know who has it and who doesn’t…

Mom and dad?
Definitely.

Their first-grade teacher?
Check.

Lunch-lady Flo?
Yeah, kinda.

That big dumb stupid-head kid out on the playground?
No way.

The target of Sally’s indignant assertion—most likely a peer or sibling of similar age—truly is not the boss of her. But others certainly are. And when she gets older, there will be all sorts of other people who exercise some sort of authority over her.

Police and government bureaucrats. Personal trainers and Pilates instructors. Her friend Emma…she’s kind of bossy. And, of course, there’s her actual boss at work.

Most political spectrums concern themselves with government—with its scope, purpose, and policies, and with what particular ideologies believe those ought to be. But whether or not government exists, there will always be governance.* Someone will be exerting force on others. Someone will be trying to create or impose order. Someone will likely be in charge (whether people want them to be or not).

In order to build a proper political spectrum, we must first understand authority. What is it? How is it imposed? Who has it and who doesn’t?