Recognizing and Understanding Coercion in the American Workplace
Recognizing and Understanding Coercion
By: Patrick T. Ourant
What Is Coercion?
Webster's New Collegiate defines coerce as: 1. To restrain or dominate by nullifying individual will; 2. To compel to an act or choice; 3. To enforce or bring about by force or threat. Coercion is essentially the overwhelming of the will of another by force or threat of force, or through less noticeable forms such as fraud. The use of coercion is the means by which a person or group of people impose their will upon another or others. Coercion can also be used to forcibly or fraudulently take the property of others. A crucial qualification of the initiation of force or the threat of force must be present. As long as an individual has done nothing to harm others or violate another's rights, no one has the right to initiate force or the threat of force against that individual. A distinction needs to be made between initiated force, and force used in self-defense. You are quite justified in using force, the threat of force, bluffing, deception, etc., to prevent others from coercing you. Although you need to decide for yourself if, depending on the circumstances, if it would be worth the risk of being harmed more by resisting someone's attempt to coerce you.
How to Treat Your Neighbors Suppose that you want to organize a cookout with your neighbors. What would happen if you went to your neighbor's house and told him that he and his family must join you in planning the cookout and that he must pay his fair share; and if he doesn't submit to "voluntary compliance", then you will "enforce" his cooperation by hiring someone to confiscate his property and/or lock him up. If he resists then they may have to harm him even worse with bodily injury. Would this type of behavior be a formula for conducting harmonious relationships? Or would it cause resentment, conflict, and other problems?
Please think about this. Is this the sort of formula that government bureaucrats
By: Patrick T. Ourant
What Is Coercion?
Webster's New Collegiate defines coerce as: 1. To restrain or dominate by nullifying individual will; 2. To compel to an act or choice; 3. To enforce or bring about by force or threat. Coercion is essentially the overwhelming of the will of another by force or threat of force, or through less noticeable forms such as fraud. The use of coercion is the means by which a person or group of people impose their will upon another or others. Coercion can also be used to forcibly or fraudulently take the property of others. A crucial qualification of the initiation of force or the threat of force must be present. As long as an individual has done nothing to harm others or violate another's rights, no one has the right to initiate force or the threat of force against that individual. A distinction needs to be made between initiated force, and force used in self-defense. You are quite justified in using force, the threat of force, bluffing, deception, etc., to prevent others from coercing you. Although you need to decide for yourself if, depending on the circumstances, if it would be worth the risk of being harmed more by resisting someone's attempt to coerce you.
How to Treat Your Neighbors Suppose that you want to organize a cookout with your neighbors. What would happen if you went to your neighbor's house and told him that he and his family must join you in planning the cookout and that he must pay his fair share; and if he doesn't submit to "voluntary compliance", then you will "enforce" his cooperation by hiring someone to confiscate his property and/or lock him up. If he resists then they may have to harm him even worse with bodily injury. Would this type of behavior be a formula for conducting harmonious relationships? Or would it cause resentment, conflict, and other problems?
Please think about this. Is this the sort of formula that government bureaucrats