Nama : Riqqah Puspa Dewi

NIM : E061211061

Departemen : Ilmu Hubungan Internasional

Mata Kuliah/Kelas : Pengantar Ilmu Politik/A

Jenis Tugas : Opini

Dosen Pengampu : 1. Dr. Phil. Sukri, Ph.D

2. Haryanto, S.IP., M.A.

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FORMAL AND INFORMAL POWER IN DAILY LIFE

Power is one of the essential elements in the life of society because the role of
power itself can determine the fate of millions of people. Power can always be found in
society, be it a small society or a complex society. The existence of power depends on the
nature of the relationship between the powerful one or leader and the forced or follower.
There are leaders in one particular field; there are also leaders in many fields in life. Some
leaders are looking for followers; some leaders also have been looked for by the follower.
There are formal leaders; there are also informal leaders.

A formal relationship has formal leadership in it, and formal leadership has power
that is given through an official appointment mechanism for a particular leadership
position. However, formal leadership won’t automatically be accepted as a guarantee of a
"real leader" by followers or subordinates. Acceptance of formal leadership remains to be
tested in practice, and the results will be seen in society's life. Like a formal relationship,
an informal relationship also has informal leadership in it. However, informal leadership is
not based on appointment and is not visible in the official organizational structure. Unlike
formal leadership, the effectiveness of informal leadership is shown in actual
acknowledgment and acceptance of followers in leadership practice. Informal leadership
exists based on the leader's abilities to guide others to do certain things or the abilities to
capture the hearts of others.
 There are many examples of formal leadership. For instance, the mayor of my city
has formal power over the people in this city. This mayor has formal power because he is
the one who was formally elected by the people here through the elections to lead my city.
Another example of formal leadership is the principal at my high school, who has authority
over all the things related to my school. The principal leads my school based on the formal
rules that already exist or based on the new rules that he made, which all the people in the
school have to obey whether they agreed with the rules or not. This is what is called the
power of power. Personally, I had already experienced where I was the one who has that
formal power. When I was in high school, I was chosen to be a secretary of the student
council. The student council is the highest level of all the student organizations which
means other organizations have to look up to the student council. I was chosen as the
secretary by all the students through a formal election. The student council has a formal
structure organization with all the people who were also chosen to be the student council
member. The student council is the only organization that is allowed to set rules regarding
students themselves. I am also one of those people who often propose many rules, such as
the time limit for the tolerance of student tardiness when participating in the flag ceremony
on Monday. If they violate the rules, they must be punished. Although many students
protest when they have to be punished, they still have to carry out the punishment. There is
also this thing called disinclined when the students happen to be in the place where there
are many student council members, they will be afraid to do the things that are prohibited
by the rules. They will try their best to obey the rules for the sake of not getting
punishment. They also often show their respect when they pass by or meet the member of
the student council. This explanation is another great example of the power of formal
power that I have experienced.

Informal power is different from formal power. People who have this kind of power
is called informal leader, they are the people who are not elected formally through an
election by society. However, they are the ones who have a better quality than the others
that other people tend to pay respect to. They also can influence many people because of
their status or position. There are so many cases in our life that relate to informal power,
and the closest one is parents. They are the ones that I could say people who have so much
influence in my life. They hold great power in determining my path in life, like my school,
my hobby, etc. Technically, parents are holding informal power. Although they have such
significant power, they are not chosen by people through a formal election or, in other
words, no law regulates parents and their power in our daily lives. They just happen to be
born before us. They also have been responsible for our life from the day we were born,
like how they provide us home, food, even money to buy things that we need in our life.
They also took care of our education. The fact that we are now in university is another
proof that our parents hold so much power in our life because I'm sure that most of us still
relying on our parents to pay our tuition and buy our college supplies. Another example of
informal power that I witnessed in daily life is the power between older and younger
siblings. As the middle child, I have experienced both as a person of informal power and as
a person who has to follow orders from the informal leader. There is no actual rule that
states that I have to obey the order from my older sibling; it's just that I respect him
because he was born first, and that makes him have more knowledge than me. The same
thing also applied to my younger sibling because she is younger than me. It makes her
looks up to me a lot and often consider my opinion before deciding to do something. She
also has no choice other than to do what I told her to do, as I told her to go to the store or to
help me fix something. If she doesn't want to do it, she will be considered a bad sister
because she did not obey me as her older sister. Those are examples of how informal
power influences daily life even though no official rules are governing it.

Based on what I have explained, we can conclude that formal and informal power
is significant in our life. The differences between them are how the power is given and
how the law formally regulates that power. However, overall both formal and informal
power can give people authority over something which makes them powerful.