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What is power?. COM 327 January 14, 2014. 1. Foucault’s project is to determine how people are made into…. a) robots b) subjects c) consumers d) Canadians.
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What is power? COM 327January 14, 2014
1. Foucault’s project is to determine how people are made into…. a) robots b) subjects c) consumers d) Canadians
2. Foucault: “to find out what our society means by ‘sanity’, perhaps we should investigate what is happening in the field of __________” a) dreams b) football c) insanity d) medicine
3. Foucault: “there is no such entity as __________, with our without a capital letter; global, massive, or diffused; concentrated or distributed. [It] exists only as exercised by some on others, only when it is put into action” a) power b) capitalism c) the Internet d) science
4. Foucault: “to ________, in this sense, is to structure the possible field of action of others” a) communicate b) violate c) govern d) bully
BONUS. Which of the following is closest to Foucault’s conception of power? a) becoming a lawyer b) shooting lasers out of your eyes c) getting beaten up by the police d) checking your phone for work emails every 2 minutes
Any questions about Annotated Bibliography? January 28 @ 11:59 PM Be prepared to discuss your topic in class that day – you will ‘shop around’ for final project partners.
Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975) History of Sexuality (1976)
Key concepts: • Subjectivity • Discourse • Governmentality • Power/knowledge
Common conceptions of power: Power of the state to exact violence
Common conceptions of power: Legislative -- “Fight the power” / “powers that be”
Common conceptions of power: Symbolic / metaphysical power – “by the power vested in me”
Common conceptions of power: (Useless) Superpowers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMoXQgVQw6E
Subjectivity How are “subjects” formed? “I have sought to study – it is my current work – the way a human being turns him- or herself into a subject. For example, I have chosen the domain of sexuality-how men have learned to recognize themselves as subjects of ‘sexuality’”
Subjectivity white male professor husband Foucault: Each of these are a “system of differentiations” -- “every relationship of power puts into operation differences that are, at the same time, its conditions and its results” (p. 344)
Discourse “systems of differentiations” A discourse is a broad set of meanings and practices through which we learn how to be, and become, certain kinds of “subjects”
“Discourse” = the sum total of rules, expectations, conventions, protocols, & styles that constitute normalcy within a given area of life…. Aka the systems of meaning by which these rules become regarded as “natural” or “normal”. E.g “Mothering discourse”: Those rules and expectations that means you’re a “good mother” -- stay home with your kids, make their food, clean up, help them with their homework.
DISCOURSES …. • Are the means through which power operates upon and through us • Don’t just happen to us – we do them, every day, all the time • Make certain differences seem “natural” to us • Boys’ or girls’ toy?
DISCOURSES …. • Are the means through which power operates upon and through us • Don’t just happen to us – we do them, every day, all the time • Make certain differences seem “natural” to us • Boys’ or girls’ toy?
Governmentality “to govern, in this sense, is to structure the possible field of action of others” (p. 341) Governmentalitydoes not refer to the action of the government: “rather, it designated the way in which the conduct of individuals or groups might be directed – the government of children, of souls, of communities, of families, of the sick” (p. 341) Governmentality is the activation of discourses towards the creation of subjects
“Power/knowledge” Discourses present certain kinds of knowledge (about gender, religion, economics, physiology & medicine) as “truth” Synonym for knowledge might be ‘science’
Establishing something as “fact” means that we can base behaviors, practices & institutions on it
So… • What is power? • Power is a “conduct of conducts” and a management of possibilities (p. 341) • Power is… • Relational • Pervasive • Productive • Power works through those systems of differentiation, rooted in discourse, through which we become “subjects”
“not a theoretical question but a part of our experience” (p. 328) What relations of power are at work right now? What “systems of differentiation” are in place? What discourses are we following?
“Power is a “conduct of conducts” and a management of possibilities” (p. 341) • Get into groups of 4-5 • Each group choose one of the following contexts: • Gym • Bar / club • Restaurant • Facebook • Airport security • Football game • What systems of differentiation (race / class / gender / sexuality) are most obvious? • What discourses (rules for being in the world) are in effect? • What kind of “subject” are we compelled to be?
