Bases of Interpersonal Power in Fight Club
Analysis by M. Husnain
Part 1
“Are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it?”, -Tyler Durden, Fight Club
The topic being used is from Chapter 10, and is based on Power, and the five interpersonal bases of power. Power is defined as the “ability to get others to do what one wants them to do”. We are going to look at the illustration of the 5 different types of Power:
Legitimate: “A person’s ability to influence others by being in a more powerful position”. For example, supervisors have legitimate power over their subordinates.
Reward: “A person’s ability to reward the behavior of others. It is often used to back up the use of legitimate power. It works best when employees understand how they can achieve rewards”. Examples of rewards are recognition, a pay raise, and issuing stock shares to employees.
Coercive: This is the “opposite of reward power”, and it’s the “capability to punish noncompliance of followers”. Examples are blocking promotion, and firing the employee.
Referent: “Power based on charisma due to personality or style of behavior”. This power is also a personal characteristic of an individual.
Expert:“The power to influence others based on special expertise”. Experts can “have power even when their rank is low”. Whereas the powers mentioned above are given by the organization, expert power is a personal characteristic. Examples are possessing expertise on “technical, administrative, or personal matters”.
Part 2
“People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden.”, -The Narrator, Fight Club
The video being used for analysis is the movie Fight Club. The plot description from Yahoo Movies tells us: “The mundane existence of a product liability evaluator and insomniac, who is addicted to self-help groups, is turned upside down when he meets a sado-masochistic anarchist who is secretly plotting to overthrow civilization. As their friendship grows, they become increasingly involved in a secret society of "fight clubs" where men act out their aggressions and violently beat one another to a pulp.”
Other things we need to know are about the lead character, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt); he wears leather jackets, fashionable sunglasses, and is really portrayed as a cool person who is calm in any situation. He is the founder and head of Fight Club. At the end of the movie we find out Tyler is the alter-ego of our other lead character (Edward Norton), the narrator whose name we are never told. They are both one and the same, physically Tyler does not exist; he only exists in the narrator’s head and is a hallucination. Tyler is essentially the ultimate man and represents the ego of the narrator. Tyler is perfect for our analysis of Power. Because I am analyzing the 5 types of power, there are several scenes spread out over the movie. These are the scenes being used for analysis in chronological order...
Part 3
“Sooner or later, we all became what Tyler wanted us to be”., -Tyler Durden, Fight Club
The following are the different portrayals of power in the movie.
Legitimate: Tyler possesses a degree of legitimate power as he is the founder and head of Fight Club. For example he creates the rules of the club (Scene 1). He also sets assignments for his followers, for example he tells them they have to start a fight and lose (Scene 5). Tyler has very strong legitimate power to the point that people commit themselves to whatever he says (Scene 6) including very violent and criminal activities. There is never really an instance where he is disobeyed.
Reward: We do not see Tyler rewarding anyone in the movie; however this is most likely due to the idea behind Fight Club. Surely Tyler possesses this power; however there is really no need to reward his followers as they all just want to be in Fight Club. We could say that a form of reward we see is when Tyler trains members and lets them live in his house (right after Scene 7).
Coercive: Tyler definitely has coercive power. He is able to punish his followers. For example he makes “applicants” stand outside for 3 days without “food, shelter or encouragement” (Scene 7).
Referent: Tyler definitely possesses referent power. His followers in general like him and are willing to do whatever he asks. There are several scenes and indicators of Tyler’s charisma. Scene 3 particularly stands out because Tyler truly captivates his members with a speech. Furthermore, Tyler’s manly and macho personality really makes Fight Club what it is.
Expert: Tyler definitely possesses expertise in many areas. For example, he knows how to make bombs out of soap (Scene 2) and be able to use them effectively for the goals he wants to achieve. Over the course of the movie, he also develops expertise in fighting and a tolerance for pain. We see this when he is beaten to a pulp up by the owner of the tavern, Lou, and keeps laughing and provoking to be beaten up more (Scene 4).
This movie definitely portrays the nature of power and how it can be used. Since Tyler possesses almost all 5 of the powers, several interesting questions arise. Which power here is the strongest and most influential? Are there any interdependencies between these powers? In my opinion its Tyler’s expert and referent power that allows him to strongly influence his followers. One could argue that Tyler’s followers are weak and are looking to someone to escape from their lives. So really Tyler’s influence on them is strong because of his follower’s weaknesses. Nonetheless, these people still turn to Tyler for support and not someone else. They are willing to withstand the pain from fighting and are even willing to lose their lives. All of this influence is stemming from Tyler’s macho, manly, and cool personality that creates a desire in his followers to be just like him. His personality is backed by his expertise in creating bombs and being able to “create an army” leading to crime and violence. These two powers essentially also provide Tyler with the other three types of powers.