Power and Authority Structures
Home: Infinitism
Timeline of Power and Authority Structures
A layered map of how humans structure decision-making, enforcement, legitimacy, and control across history, viewed through an Infinitist lens.
What this maps:
Who controls resources, behavior, and social order—and how authority is formalized or abstracted.
Core arc:
Tribal elders → Land ownership → Feudalism → Monarchies → Divine authority → Colonial empires → Nation-states → Corporations → Financial institutions → Technocapitalism / algorithmic power
Notes:
- Dates are approximate; emergence, not dominance.
- Each layer builds on prior social, economic, and symbolic structures.
- Power increasingly abstracts from physical control to legal, financial, and algorithmic forms.
- This timeline is descriptive; it does not moralize authority.
Tribal Elders – Kinship Authority
Emergence: ~300,000 – 10,000 BCE
Core Characteristics
- Leadership based on age, experience, and social respect
- Enforcement through social norms and communal sanction
- Decision-making guided by group welfare
Extraction Logic
- Authority emerges naturally via competence and relational trust
- No codified law; legitimacy derives from consensus
Key Figures & Studies
- Anthropological studies of hunter-gatherer societies
- Marshall Sahlins — Stone Age Economics
Infinitist Lens
- Power is structural but personal
- Yin/Yang: influence vs. consent, elder/peer
Land Ownership after Agriculture – Territorial Control
Emergence: ~12,000 – 5,000 BCE
Core Characteristics
- Land becomes a source of surplus and extraction
- Property rights codified locally
- Control tied to productive capacity
Extraction Logic
- Those controlling land control labor and production
- Hierarchies emerge around resource access
Key Figures & Studies
- Archaeological studies of early agrarian societies
- Economic anthropology
Infinitist Lens
- Abstract control begins: resources → social leverage
- Yin/Yang: possession/need, owner/tenant
Feudalism – Obligatory Authority
Emergence: ~800 – 1400 CE
Core Characteristics
- Land and labor tied to hierarchical obligations
- Lords extract value via rents, dues, and military service
- Decentralized enforcement through vassalage
Extraction Logic
- Authority formalized via loyalty, oaths, and inheritance
- Enforcement embedded in social structure
Key Figures & Studies
- Marc Bloch — Feudal Society
- Medieval European history
Infinitist Lens
- Power is structuralized and inherited
- Yin/Yang: duty vs. privilege, lord/serf
Kings and Monarchies – Centralized Sovereignty
Emergence: ~1000 BCE – 1500 CE
Core Characteristics
- Authority centralized in a single ruler or royal family
- Law codified to consolidate control
- Legitimacy reinforced by ceremony, tradition, and military power
Extraction Logic
- Control over taxation, war, and judicial systems
- Symbolic and legal authority fused
Key Figures & Studies
- European, African, and Asian monarchies
- Political philosophy: Machiavelli
Infinitist Lens
- Power abstracts from kinship to institution
- Yin/Yang: ruler/subject, ceremonial/real
Divine Authority and Church-State Fusion
Emergence: ~300 – 1500 CE
Core Characteristics
- Religious institutions confer legitimacy to rulers
- Doctrine enforces social norms and hierarchy
- Church controls education, law, and ideology
Extraction Logic
- Authority reinforced via moral and cosmic justification
- Compliance internalized through belief
Key Figures & Studies
- Augustine, Aquinas, Scholasticism
- Sociology of religion
- Church history
Infinitist Lens
- Power symbolic + structural
- Yin/Yang: sacred/secular, spiritual/temporal
Colonial Empires – Global Extraction
Emergence: ~1500 – 1900 CE
Core Characteristics
- Centralized states project power overseas
- Extraction of labor, resources, and tribute
- Military and bureaucratic control enforced locally
Extraction Logic
- Hierarchy extended geographically
- Legitimacy through treaties, religion, and culture
Key Figures & Studies
- European colonial powers
- Historical economics
- Imperial studies
Infinitist Lens
- Authority scales beyond local context
- Yin/Yang: center/periphery, extraction/management
Nation-States – Bureaucratic Authority
Emergence: ~1600 – present
Core Characteristics
- Sovereignty codified legally
- Enforcement via police, military, judicial system
- Citizenship and law as instruments of legitimacy
Extraction Logic
- Power abstracted into institutions
- Social order maintained through codified rules
Key Figures & Studies
- Max Weber — Economy and Society (1919)
- Modern political science
Infinitist Lens
- Authority formalized and depersonalized
- Yin/Yang: individual/state, law/enforcement
Corporations – Private Organizational Power
Emergence: ~1600 – present
Core Characteristics
- Power vested in legal entities rather than individuals
- Control over labor, capital, and markets
- Enforcement via contracts, intellectual property, and regulatory compliance
Extraction Logic
- Private profit maximization centralizes influence
- Hierarchy embedded in management and ownership
Key Figures & Studies
- Adam Smith
- Berle & Means — The Modern Corporation
- Corporate governance studies
Infinitist Lens
- Authority abstracted into systems
- Yin/Yang: profit/ethics, manager/worker
Financial Institutions – Monetary Control
Emergence: ~1700 – present
Core Characteristics
- Banks, central banks, and financial intermediaries control capital flows
- Credit, debt, and investment shape societal behavior
- Enforcement via contractual and legal frameworks
Extraction Logic
- Authority derives from control of liquidity and credit
- Influence extends to governments, markets, and individuals
Key Figures & Studies
- Hyman Minsky
- Thomas Piketty — Capital in the 21st Century
- Financial economics
Infinitist Lens
- Power abstracted from matter to money
- Yin/Yang: liquidity/illiquidity, lender/borrower
Technocapitalism / Algorithmic Power
Emergence: ~2000 – present
Core Characteristics
- Algorithms, platforms, and AI shape decision-making
- Behavioral data used for predictive governance
- Influence operates on cognitive, social, and digital levels
Extraction Logic
- Authority embedded in infrastructure, protocols, and attention flows
- Legitimacy enforced through adoption and default systems
Key Figures & Studies
- Shoshana Zuboff — The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
- Network theory
- AI governance studies
Infinitist Lens
- Power is invisible, systemic, and pervasive
- Yin/Yang: automation/human agency, visible/invisible control
Infinitist Core Observation (Power & Authority)
Power is structural, not moral.
Authority evolves from personal, kin-based influence → land-based control → centralized institutions → abstract financial and algorithmic systems.
Each stage increases abstraction, scale, and leverage over consciousness, behavior, and social order.
Integrated Pattern
- Early power: relational, visible, socially constrained
- Mid-stage power: symbolic, codified, enforced through religion and bureaucracy
- Modern power: systemic, abstract, operating through algorithms, markets, and infrastructure
Return-to-Oneness Implication
- Awareness of structural authority restores cognitive agency
- Understanding the mechanisms allows conscious navigation of social, economic, and technological power layers
- Power is not inherently good or evil; it is a layer of reality to be understood, not worshiped