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Body-Centeredness In Modernity. Michel Foucault: Discourse Theory. Foucault: 1926 - 1984. Foucault’s Life. French philosopher, sociologist, and historian.
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Body-Centeredness In Modernity Michel Foucault: Discourse Theory
Foucault’s Life • French philosopher, sociologist, and historian. • Best known for distancing himself from Structuralism in his explorations of psychiatry, medicine, the prison system, and human sexuality. • Influenced by German philosopher Nietzsche • Became a social activist beginning in 1968.
Discourse: Departing Structuralism • Structuralism holds that meaning is (re)produced through various practices, phenomena & activities. • Activities including food prep & serving rituals, religious rites, games, books, films, etc. transmit deeply embedded symbolic structures, which produce meaning within a culture. What are some of these?
Discourse: Departing Structuralism • This idea of symbolic cultural structures was popularized by French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss in the 60s & 70s. • Structuralism amounts to a conceptualization of the universal structures of the mind – how we think. • We make “sense” based on pairs of binary oppositions such as hot-cold, male-female, culture-nature, cooked-raw, etc.
Discourse: Departing Structuralism • Foucault decided instead that what truly defines us are the narratives, or stories, a culture tells itself about the world. • These stories use systems of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs, and practices that “create” the world as we know it. • This idea was called Discourse Theory, & affirmed that each historical period has its own story of what the world is & how it works.
Body-Centeredness • Foucault felt that the current Discourse defining humanity has to do with the Body – everything about who and how we are is understood along medical/physical lines. • We make sense of our life through our body – everything we experience is explained this way. • Good vs. Evil has become Health vs. Sickness, the primary concern of our age.
The Medicalization of Experience • Foucault thought that every aspect of modern life plugs in one way or another w/ the Health Care System: • Childbirth • Education • Marriage & The Family • Old Age • Death
Body Fetishism • This focus on the body also manifests as an obsession with our physical appearance. • Living a good/happy life becomes less important, as we focus more on material/physical virtues rather than spiritual ones. • In modernity, we develop our bodies, decorate them, clothe them, apply various lotions and paints – all to convince the world that we are beautiful: that we are healthy.
Body Fetishism, continued • According to sociologist Pip Jones, not only do fashion and non-prescribed medications contribute to this idea of healthiness, but body fetishism “… is rampant, fuelled by the beauty industry, the fashion industry, the youth industry, the diet industry, and the fitness industry.” (Jones, p. 130)
Capitalism as the Root Cause • Foucault posits that capitalism and the organized, mechanistic market system requires healthy workers, with healthy, fit bodies in order to maximize production. • It thus becomes no wonder that our culture focuses on the materialistic here and now, as opposed to other belief systems that preferred a more spiritualistic approach to meaning.
Female Sexuality As Property • This can be seen in pre-modern societies which lack the infrastructure of our modern times: individuals have to rely on the family or kin-group for basic life necessities. • As a result, the female ability to give birth became a central issue, as did marriage. • Without marriage, the male can produce no legitimate heirs to inherit his wealth when he dies, and so the kin-group dies with him.
Female Body Regulation • As a result, the woman’s body belongs not to herself but to her kin-group: biology and reproduction are linked very closely to “property production, management, and distribution” (Jones, p. 133) of wealth. • Group survival depends on the birth of heirs to inherit group wealth and pass it on to subsequent generations.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) • A remarkable form of Regulation is FGM: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 130 million women have had their genitals altered by physical, surgical intervention. • This includes circumcision, the excision of the clitoris, as well as infibulation, the sewing up of the labia.
FGM, continued • By mutilating the female reproductive organs in this manner, a woman’s sexuality is seriously curbed or eliminated, ensuring her virginity. • This affects property ownership since now any husband can be assured that his heirs are indeed his own, and so the kin-group’s wealth is protected for the next generation.
Modern Body Regulation • Female Body Regulation continues in modern society as moral sanctions regarding sexuality: • Promiscuity (having non-monogamous relationships), bearing children outside of marriage, and same-sex partnerships have all been eschewed by mainstream Western religious traditions • Notice how each of these different lifestyles threatens the transmission of property.
Discourse & Language • Clues to Discourse Theory in action can be reduced to the very words chosen to describe reality, and how they are used. • For instance, recently men have begun to be described as promiscuous in the manner women have been described for generations, although the idea of the non-sexual “frigid/prudish” man still awaits.
Discourse & Language, cont. • The sexual power structure can be seen to be in a state of change (Berger’s 3-Part Process) most clearly, however, in the homosexual community: • What were once derogatory terms regarding same-sex relationships have given way to common, accepted terms such as “gay” or “lesbian,” showing a new respect not evident in years past.
