Just as unsatisfactory are suggestions about the mutual increase in influence which have been developed in the context of the 'human relations' movement, namely chains of increasing influence which turn in on themselves, in which alter accepts greater influence from ego because ego accepts greater influence from alter. This may be a perfectly realistic possibility even for organization systems, but it is hardly compatible with reliance on negative sanctions and avoidance alternatives and would be more a case of love than a case of power.

DEFINE: Distinguishes power from reciprocal influence; power relies on sanctions and avoidance, unlike mutual escalation of influence.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 803