Power Moves in Ibiza

"Ushuaïa Ibiza is the ideal choice for those who come to Ibiza for the best beach and pool parties. With live performances of the top DJs in the world, the most exclusive day and night ambience in a modern setting and designed with all kinds of comforts, luxuries and VIP services."

This summer, on one particular instance, I found myself overdressed outside of one of Ibiza’s most famed hotel club venues. As the monster of luxury and debauchery pulsated with bass-heavy EDM from within its walls, I stood outside, having just stepped off my plane, relatively (edit: ridiculously) broke from a month of travels and in business casual attire (a stark contrast to my female counterparts’ glitter bikinis). As my friends handed the bouncer a few hundred euros in cover fees and headed to the back of a seemingly infinite winding line, I reached my hand inside my practical and tiny travel backpack and pulled out a lanyard with my student ID attached at the end.

“Let me just try something real quick,” I called over my shoulder as I further buttoned up my shirt and made a quick walk to a different entrance: PRESS ONLY.

I stood patiently behind some representative to a celebrity magazine, and then, when it was my turn, handed the rather gargantuan bouncer my lanyard. Fully craning my neck to look up at him, well-planted in my black jeans, boots, and button up shirt (again, not typical island club wear), I declared that I was a Berkeley student who had flown in from the United States with the purpose of writing about that specific concert. He glanced at my “credential” which did effectively state that I was a Berkeley student named Ale Hernandez (and that’s about it), and then at his clipboard. And then he did it again.

“No estas en la lista,” he dismissed me as he started waving the next person forward.

Staying put, I pulled up this website on my phone and assured him that I did, in fact, write. And, I added in English, if he didn’t let me in, I was absolutely confident the event manager would.

I was waved in and allowed not only free but also exclusive access to the DJ’s set, where I met up with my friends after they were eventually let in.

In my Power & Politics business course this semester, I was able to give my little ruse a name:

Assuming Legitimate Authority

We know power is ultimately relational and dynamic, meaning that in theory, anyone can have it; the trick is identifying when and how is most effective to exercise it. To give you a more textbook definition: legitimate authority is socially perceived power that one has to influence others into accepting them as a leader, and is commonly used to achieve personal and group goals. It can be manifested innocently and creatively, such as by using your college identification to get into a club in Spain. However, it can also be employed in more consequential manners.

Milgram's Shock Experiment

In 1947, subsequent to Nuremberg Criminal trials (which served to prosecute those that actively partook in acts against humanity during WWII), Yale psychologist, Stanley Milgram posed the following hypothesis:

"Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?"

He explored the relationship that exists between perceived authority and obedience by conducting a shock experiment. He would direct unsuspecting suspects to administer a series of shocks, progressively higher in voltage, on an actor. The actor, feigning heart problems and intense pain to a point that he would become unresponsive to the shocks, would cause a direct conflict for the suspect. However, what Milgram found was that the suspects (65%) would willingly continue the experiment to its full extent solely based on a few variables. Among others, they were:

1. Proximity: how physically close the director of the experiment and/or the person receiving the shocks were to the subject.

2. Respectability: whether the experiment was carried out at Yale University or a small, more run-down laboratory in town and how "professional" the director of the experiment appeared to be.

3. Responsibility: who would bear the burden of the effects of the experiment (the director or the subject).

In virtually all cases, the legitimate authority assumed by the director had a direct and highly impactful effect on the subjects' actions. That's unbelievably powerful. Subjects were willing to potentially "kill" another just because the director seemed to know what he was talking about (!!).

Try It Yourself

Milgram's experiment and the hundreds of thousands of sociological and psychological spin-off investigations that test this theory (including theow I used get my little sisters to do my chores)make it clear that human flaws are incredibly predictable and thus easy to manipulate. As long as you can convince people you know what you're doing, you know what you're talking about, you know who and/or why you are, then the rest will follow [you].

Tips on how to reflect high status behaviour and thus, adopt legitimate authority :

1. Believe it to achieve it:

"The actor who doesn't reproduce, doesn't playact but continuously performs actions which are genuine, productive, appropriate purpose, the actor who communicates ...with his fellow actor, is one who keeps inside the play and the role, with living truth, belief, the 'I am being.' He is living the truth onstage" (Stanislavski, 166).

2. Play the part:

Present yourself as you would expect the archetype of what you're trying to imitate would look like. I dressed visibly different from all other club goers to the degree that my clothing made a large part of my argument for me. Wear glasses and introduce yourself using your middle initial to seem smarter and build that ethos. Wear darker colours, lower your voice, and don a low ponytail over a high one to look older.

3. Adopt high power body language:

Make eye contact, stand tall, angle your body (nose and hips, specifically) to directly face your listener, illustrate with your hands and open body (to take up more space), use vocal inflection, keep your sentences short and crisp, refrain from touching your face, and point your head directly upwards (Eli Kass, Ph.D.).

4. Learn to read others:

My favourite book on the subject: The Definitive Book of Body Language: The Hidden Meaning Behind People's Gestures and Expressions, by Barbara and Allen Pease.

Cheers to easy club entries!