# Typologies of Power *Tom Geraghty · Power* Steep power gradients are framed here as the single biggest inhibitor of psychological safety, and addressing them as one of the first things to do to improve it. The gradient goes by many names across fields — power differential, authority gradient, cross-cockpit authority gradient, power distance, status asymmetry. The article sets out four accessible, actionable categories of power: formal (positional — structures, hierarchies, rules), informal (social — networks, reputation, popularity), demographic (gender, race, age, sexuality — the power we did nothing to earn), and expert (knowledge and experience, which only works as power when others acknowledge it). These are adapted from French and Raven's bases of power alongside Galbraith, Mary Parker Follett, and Deborah Cameron's work on privilege and 'unmarked' identities. The types are not independent — they interact, compensate, and dangerously stack, so the real power in an organisation rarely matches the formal org chart. Introduces 'power literacy': without language to talk about power, we can find ourselves powerless to address inequity. Naming each type opens different interventions — restructuring to flatten formal gradients, acknowledging and mitigating informal and demographic power by amplifying other voices, and making use of expertise while guarding its silencing effect on junior voices. Power begets power, which is why organisations need guardrails against its over-accumulation. - **This page:** https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/typologies-of-power/ - **Read the full article on psychsafety.com:** https://psychsafety.com/typologies-of-power/ - **Interactive map:** https://explore.psychsafety.com/?node=power-types ## Connected concepts (45) - [Core Principles](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/our-core-principles.md) - [Calculus of Voice](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-calculus-of-voice.md) - [Employment Grade and Coronary Heart Disease in British Civil Servants](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/marmot-1978.md) (paper) - [Language and Symbolic Power](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/bourdieu-1991.md) (paper) - [Power, Approach, and Inhibition](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/keltner-gruenfeld-anderson-2003.md) (paper) - [The Bases of Social Power](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/french-raven-1959.md) (paper) - [The Forms of Capital](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/bourdieu-1986.md) (paper) - [Who Gets to Decide if PS Matters?](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/who-gets-to-decide-if-psychological-safety-matters.md) - [Accountability](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/accountability.md) - [Local Rationality](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/local-rationality.md) - [PS is Political](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-is-political.md) - [Status and Cockpit Dynamics: A Review and Empirical Study](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/milanovich-et-al-1998.md) (paper) - [The Giving of Orders](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/follett-1926.md) (paper) - [The Social Consequences of Voice: An Examination of Voice Type and Gender on Status and Subsequent Leader Emergence](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/mcclean-et-al-2018.md) (paper) - [The Tenerife Disaster](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-tenerife-disaster-of-1977-were-going.md) - [Who Takes the Floor and Why: Gender, Power, and Volubility in Organizations](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/brescoll-2011.md) (paper) - [Blametropism](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/blametropism.md) - [Paper Collection: Power, Safety and Authority Gradients](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/paper-collection-on-power-safety-authority-gradients-and-more.md) - [Reducing Power Gradients](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/reducing-power-gradients.md) - [Status Characteristics and Social Interaction](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/berger-cohen-zelditch-1972.md) (paper) - [Trust and Power](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/luhmann-1979.md) (paper) - [Watermelon Effect](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-watermelon-effect-and-greenwashing.md) - [Why Status Matters for Inequality](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/ridgeway-2014.md) (paper) - [Anonymous Feedback Can Destroy PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/anonymous-feedback-can-destroy-your-team.md) - [Bullying & PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-bullying.md) - [Chernobyl](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/chernobyl.md) - [Command & Control](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-56-command-control.md) - [Flat Orgs & Hierarchy](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/flat-organisations-hierarchy-and-power.md) - [Leadership in Healthcare (CRM)](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-evolution-of-leadership-and-management-in-healthcare-lessons-from-aviation-and-crew-resource-management.md) - [Power & Mary Parker Follett](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-74-power.md) - [Sharp & Blunt End](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-sharp-end-blunt-end-of-education.md) - [STREAM](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/st-r-e-a-m-status-rules-everything-around-me.md) - [Structure & Power](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-53-structure-and-power.md) - [The First Org Chart](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-first-organisational-chart.md) - [Whistleblowing & PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/whistleblowing-and-psychological-safety.md) - [Attachment Styles & PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/do-attachment-styles-impact-leaders-and-therefore-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace.md) - [Bad Management](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/bad-management.md) - [Employment Rights newsletter](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/employment-rights.md) - [Leadership vs Management](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/leadership-vs-management.md) - [Micromanagement](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/micromanagement.md) - [Reflections Pt 2: Power & Difference](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/reflections-part-two.md) - [Servant Leadership](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-58-servant-leadership.md) - [The HiPPO](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-hippo.md) - [Lean Coffee](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-93-lean-coffee.md) - [Newsletter #43: WEIRD People and Bad Bosses](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-43.md)