I think it's crucial to understand the role of habit in upholding social systems. Yes, it is true that the state's authority is ultimately backed by violence, but most people don't encounter this violence, and don't even give it a second thought. They're simply used to always doing things a certain way. David Graeber, in his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, suggests that hierarchy develops out of habit. If someone acts like royalty, people will begin treating them like royalty. In what sociologists refer to as the Matthew effect, there is a common social tendency to give more to those who already have more. More prestigious scientists are likely to be given more credit for a discovery than lesser-known scientists who did more significant work that preempted theirs. If you do a favor for someone, you are more likely to do favors for them in the future. If someone does a favor for you, they are more likely to do favors for you in the future. In order to avoid the emergence of such hierarchy, rules about reciprocity need to be established and made habitual.
We also see the notorious effects of habit in all systems of privilege. White privilege exists because white people are used to being treated a certain way and people of color are used to being treated another way. White people are oblivious to their privilege because for them, things have always been a certain way, and it's working great for them, so they don't understand why everyone's complaining about it. They don't see what it's like for people of color when interviewing for a job, applying for a loan, trying to move into a neighborhood, or getting pulled over by the police. And if they did see it, they might not recognize what's going on, because they don't see the influence of habit in these situations. The person interviewing a person of color for a job probably isn't consciously looking to disqualify them based on their race, but they might think they look "unprofessional." The police officer might pull over a black person not because they're consciously looking to persecute black people, but rather because they look "suspicious."
Habit creates systems of privilege through normativity. It determines the norms that people follow without questioning them. This is not to demonize habit. Habit is neutral. The issue is what kind of habits we have, and how to shift toward healthier habits. This is no easy task. If morphic resonance means anything, it is that each repetition of a habit makes it more solidified and deeply entrenched. Counteracting these habits involves the construction of new habits.
Culture is habit at the social level. Changing culture involves creating a counterculture. In the radical circles I travel in, there is a culture of checking one's privilege. We call each other out when someone uses language that is demeaning to some oppressed group. Only once you're immersed in such a culture do you realize just how much of your everyday habitual language is oppressive to other people. It can be rather uncomfortable at first, but after a while, it becomes natural.
Social norms are reproduced with every social interaction. Every social behavior is performed with the expectation that the other person will react in a manner to which one is accustomed. When someone reacts in an unexpected manner, it breaks the habitual flow of interactions, and helps bring one's subconscious actions into conscious awareness. In Deleuzian terms, we can say it "deterritorializes" social norms. When someone tells a racist joke or uses oppressive language and you call them on it, they may not react kindly to it, but they will be made aware of their actions, and if this is done consistently enough by enough people, they will begin modifying their behavior accordingly.
Some of the most deeply entrenched cultural artifacts are called institutions. They might even have a charter document, such as the US Constitution. But such documents are already reflections of the kind of institutional habits that give them legitimacy in the first place. The law is not simply something that is written down, but an institution of authority legitimized by habit as much as by violence. If everyone were to simply stop recognizing the legitimacy of the law, the state would not have the power to enforce it upon everyone.
The trick is to show people that another way of living is possible. This is the role of dual power. Just as culture can be challenged by counterculture, so too do institutions need to be challenged by counter-institutions. Such institutions don't have to be institutions in the sense of an organization with a headquarters and bylaws. It's more about different ways of doing things: using networks of mutual aid instead of currency, starting worker co-ops instead of hierarchical businesses, using mediation instead of courts for resolving disputes, and so on.
However, it's not enough to simply do things differently. Dual power means actively transgressing boundaries and challenging the system you're up against. The goal is to delegitimize the system and show people that this alternative way of doing things has greater moral authority than the system that relies on violence to reinforce itself. Taking direct action to provide people with food and shelter shows how inadequate the existing system is at providing these services.
One of the basic habit of resistance, though, is simply learning how to disobey. This has been a learning process for me in the Occupy movement. Simply learning to march in the streets during unpermitted marches has brought me out of my comfort zone and helped me break free of my habitual obedience to authority. Doing such things as a group is crucial for breaking people of such complacent habits. There is strength in numbers. There is also peer pressure. Peer pressure gets a bad rap, but like habit, it is effectively neutral. Peer pressure helps deterritorialize people from their old habits and socializes them into new ones, which may be good or bad.
This is why dual power can seem like a slow, agonizing process at first. You challenge the system, you provide alternatives to it, and at first it seems like no one cares. But as you build your movement and get more people on board, eventually you reach a critical mass, where people who are on the sidelines feel safe to come over. The role of a radical is to create alternatives to the system and built up the space for more people to come over. We have to transgress illegitimate boundaries and reveal their illegitimacy to the rest of the world. It will take a while before people feel safe to come over onto our side. But in the meantime, we just need to build up that morphic field.
We also see the notorious effects of habit in all systems of privilege. White privilege exists because white people are used to being treated a certain way and people of color are used to being treated another way. White people are oblivious to their privilege because for them, things have always been a certain way, and it's working great for them, so they don't understand why everyone's complaining about it. They don't see what it's like for people of color when interviewing for a job, applying for a loan, trying to move into a neighborhood, or getting pulled over by the police. And if they did see it, they might not recognize what's going on, because they don't see the influence of habit in these situations. The person interviewing a person of color for a job probably isn't consciously looking to disqualify them based on their race, but they might think they look "unprofessional." The police officer might pull over a black person not because they're consciously looking to persecute black people, but rather because they look "suspicious."
Habit creates systems of privilege through normativity. It determines the norms that people follow without questioning them. This is not to demonize habit. Habit is neutral. The issue is what kind of habits we have, and how to shift toward healthier habits. This is no easy task. If morphic resonance means anything, it is that each repetition of a habit makes it more solidified and deeply entrenched. Counteracting these habits involves the construction of new habits.
Culture is habit at the social level. Changing culture involves creating a counterculture. In the radical circles I travel in, there is a culture of checking one's privilege. We call each other out when someone uses language that is demeaning to some oppressed group. Only once you're immersed in such a culture do you realize just how much of your everyday habitual language is oppressive to other people. It can be rather uncomfortable at first, but after a while, it becomes natural.
Social norms are reproduced with every social interaction. Every social behavior is performed with the expectation that the other person will react in a manner to which one is accustomed. When someone reacts in an unexpected manner, it breaks the habitual flow of interactions, and helps bring one's subconscious actions into conscious awareness. In Deleuzian terms, we can say it "deterritorializes" social norms. When someone tells a racist joke or uses oppressive language and you call them on it, they may not react kindly to it, but they will be made aware of their actions, and if this is done consistently enough by enough people, they will begin modifying their behavior accordingly.
Some of the most deeply entrenched cultural artifacts are called institutions. They might even have a charter document, such as the US Constitution. But such documents are already reflections of the kind of institutional habits that give them legitimacy in the first place. The law is not simply something that is written down, but an institution of authority legitimized by habit as much as by violence. If everyone were to simply stop recognizing the legitimacy of the law, the state would not have the power to enforce it upon everyone.
The trick is to show people that another way of living is possible. This is the role of dual power. Just as culture can be challenged by counterculture, so too do institutions need to be challenged by counter-institutions. Such institutions don't have to be institutions in the sense of an organization with a headquarters and bylaws. It's more about different ways of doing things: using networks of mutual aid instead of currency, starting worker co-ops instead of hierarchical businesses, using mediation instead of courts for resolving disputes, and so on.
However, it's not enough to simply do things differently. Dual power means actively transgressing boundaries and challenging the system you're up against. The goal is to delegitimize the system and show people that this alternative way of doing things has greater moral authority than the system that relies on violence to reinforce itself. Taking direct action to provide people with food and shelter shows how inadequate the existing system is at providing these services.
One of the basic habit of resistance, though, is simply learning how to disobey. This has been a learning process for me in the Occupy movement. Simply learning to march in the streets during unpermitted marches has brought me out of my comfort zone and helped me break free of my habitual obedience to authority. Doing such things as a group is crucial for breaking people of such complacent habits. There is strength in numbers. There is also peer pressure. Peer pressure gets a bad rap, but like habit, it is effectively neutral. Peer pressure helps deterritorialize people from their old habits and socializes them into new ones, which may be good or bad.
This is why dual power can seem like a slow, agonizing process at first. You challenge the system, you provide alternatives to it, and at first it seems like no one cares. But as you build your movement and get more people on board, eventually you reach a critical mass, where people who are on the sidelines feel safe to come over. The role of a radical is to create alternatives to the system and built up the space for more people to come over. We have to transgress illegitimate boundaries and reveal their illegitimacy to the rest of the world. It will take a while before people feel safe to come over onto our side. But in the meantime, we just need to build up that morphic field.
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