Spheres of Social Control Theory

A granular analysis of how different social institutions specialize in distinct forms of regulation. The family sphere controls through love, shame, and dependency; the educational sphere through grading, sorting, and temporal discipline; the workplace sphere through wages, promotion, and termination; the legal sphere through codified punishment; the medical sphere through diagnosis and normalization; the technological sphere through algorithmic nudging and interface design. Each sphere has its own techniques, targets, and justifications. Together, they form a redundant, overlapping net of constraint.

Spheres of Social Control Theory Example: Consider how a "troubled" teenager experiences social control across spheres: Family applies guilt and grounding; School applies detention and academic probation; Mental health system applies diagnosis and medication; Juvenile justice applies probation and monitoring; Social media applies algorithmic content filtering and shadowbanning. Each sphere claims its own benevolent logic; together, they comprehensively regulate a life.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Spheres of Hegemony Theory

An extension of Gramscian hegemony, mapping how dominance is secured not just through coercion but through intellectual and moral leadership across multiple social spheres. A ruling bloc achieves hegemony when its worldview becomes common sense in the educational sphere, its economic arrangements seem natural in the labor sphere, its values saturate the cultural sphere, and its political options exhaust the electoral sphere. Hegemony is power that has become invisible because it has colonized the taken-for-granted assumptions of every sphere.

Spheres of Hegemony Theory Example: Neoliberal hegemony manifests across spheres: in the economic sphere, privatization is "efficiency"; in the educational sphere, students are "customers"; in the cultural sphere, self-optimization is a moral duty; in the political sphere, deregulation is the only "realistic" option. No one needs to force these ideas; they are the water everyone swims in. Spheres of Hegemony Theory analyzes how a single logic saturates diverse domains until alternatives become literally unimaginable.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Spheres of Power Theory

A model of society as composed of distinct, overlapping domains—economic, political, military, ideological, technological—each with its own logic, elite, and resources. Power is not monolithic but flows through these spheres, which can cooperate, compete, or remain autonomous. A capitalist corporation (economic sphere) and a democratic legislature (political sphere) operate by different rules, yet their interaction shapes policy. The theory maps how actors translate power from one sphere to another: wealth buys political influence, political power grants economic privileges, military strength underwrites economic expansion.

Spheres of Power Theory Example: A tech billionaire uses economic sphere wealth to fund a super-PAC, influencing elections (political sphere), which appoints regulators sympathetic to his industry. His foundation funds university research (ideological sphere) that produces favorable studies on automation. His news network (media sphere) frames his antitrust battles as attacks on innovation. Spheres of Power Theory tracks this currency exchange of influence across different institutional domains.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026