Autocoercion

Autocoercion is a society coercing itself with its own knowledge and consent. The two qualifiers do the work: it is transparent, so the coercion is visible rather than hidden, and it is consensual, so those subject to it have agreed to it. This sets it apart from the coercion of an authoritative endogroup imposing its will from above. Autocoercion is the community binding itself to rules it has openly chosen, the collective equivalent of self-discipline rather than domination. It belongs to Marsh's account of what non-hierarchical organization can look like: a society does need to constrain behaviour, but it can do so through coercion that is out in the open and agreed to, rather than through a ruling group's hidden or imposed force.

Political philosophy has long treated self-imposed law as the basis of legitimate authority, from Rousseau's general will and the social contract to Kant's autonomy, where binding yourself to rules you author is freedom rather than subjection. Marsh's autocoercion sits in that lineage but is defined by transparency and consent specifically, and set against the coercion of an authoritative endogroup.