Coercion

de:Nötigung es:Coerción

Coercion is the use of force or the threat of force, including violence, to dictate the actions of others. It usually has a pejorative connotation, implying that such force is unjustified or misapplied. It is distinguished from persuasion, which is an attempt to change the opinion or behavior of others through argumentation rather than force.

Rights and systems of law are generally backed by the threat of force.

Cultural coercion substitutes community opprobrium, the "threat of scandal," for physical violence. Whatever the avowed intent, pressures for cultural conformity are enforced by public recitation of a creed or a pledge of allegiance, acts which have the effect of rooting out and exposing any disaffected or heterodox among those assembled. The result of such peer pressure is communal cohesion, whether that is perceived as good or ill. See Sociology of religion, Nicene Creed and Pledge of Allegiance.

Coercion is often used to political ends, both by states and by other entities, such as established religion or cults. Coercion (primarily in the specialized sense) is opposed by many liberal thinkers, in addition to the anarchists, libertarians and pacifists who are associated with protests against corecive activities. Nevertheless, coercion remains one of the most basic forms of motivation, and continues to be used for that purpose.

Some consider that corporations may exert coercive force through control over scarce resources, such as food, water, housing, and others which individuals would consider essential to maintaining their lives, as in the concept of the hydraulic economy, in which individual survival depends upon the distribution of water. Compare the entry Company town.

See also: hegemony, intimidation, libertarian socialism