Asking Questions About Power

“Critical theory is, above all else, a way to ask questions about power. Who has it? How did they get it? How do they keep it? What are they doing with it? How do their actions affect the less powerful? How might things be otherwise? (Finding Freedom in the Classroom, p.17, by Patricia Hinchey)

We need to ask ourselves some very serious questions about power and information. I’d like to look at information production, distribution, collection, organization, preservation, access, control, assessment, and use. Here are a number of questions I have:

Who produces information? Does power affect your ability to produce information? What relation does power have to the volume of information produced? or the quality or type of information produced? What types of information are there? Why is information produced? Who is it produced for? What types of information reinforce or increase the power of some over others? What types of information loosen the power of some over others? How is a person’s culture/background/class reflected in the information s/he produces? What are the barriers to information production?

How is information distributed? What is the relation between power and distribution? What types of information are pushed, who are they pushed on, and why? How do the distribution systems work? What is the difference between types of distribution? Does everyone have equal access to all methods of distribution? What are the barriers to distribution?

How is information collected, organized, and preserved? Who is responsible? Is all information treated equally? Whose categories are used? How do we categorize information? Why is some information more available than other information? Is some information lost?

How is information accessed? How is information controlled? Does everyone have equal access to information? When and why do people choose to seek information? How do we attempt to find it? How do people know when, where, and how to seek information?

How do we choose what information to use or dismiss? Are some people better at analyzing information than others? If so, why? How do people decide which information is reliable/trustworthy and which is not?

If anyone would like to add to this or discuss any of the questions I put forward, I would be interested to hear your thoughts.