Power and Manipulation

This chapter examines concerns about advisors improperly exercising power through their framing and delivery of advice, and reveals how power dynamics can compromise the safety of advice relationships. Section 4.1 considers worries about the use of manipulative techniques and concludes that thinking in terms of manipulation only serves to muddy the ethical waters when it comes to advice. There is more to be gained by focusing on whether the norms of advice are adhered to. The discussion then turns to the challenge of navigating power relations. Disparities of power between advisor and advisee can threaten the prospects of advice being received as such, even when the advisor’s conduct, intentions, and attitudes are norm-compliant. I canvass a range of relationships in which status issues pose challenges for advising and consider what makes it possible to safely advise those whom we rely upon, or who rely upon us.