Alread Foucault's Lens

Although there are somewhat of similarities between Weber’s and Foucault’s relations of power and dominance, how they evaluate the concepts separately and the ways these concepts are practiced in society, can be distinguished differently. Webber appears to occupy the polar opposite with the respect to his claims of how power becomes existent with bureaucratic instruments and bureaucracy itself, Foucault argues that the power relations are everywhere in society and with expansive elements; society has no option but to internalize (Shaw 2011). His explanation of power is much broader than Weber’s. Focault rejects the hierarchical models of power, and believed that relations of dominance are formations of unequal power (McClaren 2002), and over time domination may seem fixed in society’s social structure (Shaw 2011). Additionally, Foucault looks at the concept of power from a functional strategy, with the functional practices administered by authority, and emphasises that authority commonly uses discursive power and the operation of discourse to maintain the dominance (Smart 2010; Shaw 2011). What is compelling about Foucault’s concept of power are his discursive claims. Unlike Webber, he suggests that power relations are not necessarily derived from state practices, but are all under state control, and highlights that “state and hegemony is in the every area of life” (Shaw 2011). Further, to understand some of Foucault’s functional examples, he focuses on the everyday lives of

Panopticism models our system of control and power. Using disciplinary actions, institutions have gained power more easily and effectively without using physical power. Michel Foucault’s theory of Panopticism is incorporated to many institutions in modern society. Government and institutions gain control through discipline and people’s fear of punishment.

Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman’s work was centralised around there two different concepts of how your identity is formed through the process of power and expert knowledge. This Essay will discuss the ideas of Michel Foucault who was a French Social Theorist. His theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge and how both of these are used as a form of social control through society. The essay will look at Foucault’s work in The Body and Sexuality, Madness and Civilisation and Discipline and Punish which displays how he conceptualised Power and identity on a Marxist and macro basis of study. The Essay will also address the Ideas of Erving Goffman who was A Canadian Born Sociologist who’s key study was what

Foucault goes through the way governments have attempted to control populations throughout history, and how power has exercised

Foucault once stated, “Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests” (301). By this, he means that our society is full of constant supervision that is not easily seen nor displayed. In his essay, Panopticism, Foucault goes into detail about the different disciplinary societies and how surveillance has become a big part of our lives today. He explains how the disciplinary mechanisms have dramatically changed in comparison to the middle ages. Foucault analyzes in particular the Panopticon, which was a blueprint of a disciplinary institution. The idea of this institution was for inmates to be seen but not to see. As Foucault put it, “he is the object of information, never a subject in

There are a few ways that Foucault’s conceptualization of bio-power and of disciplinary knowledge and practices may be evident in college settings. One example of bio-power in a college setting might be birth control and sex education at my university. Another example of bio-power in our colleges is a requirement of a health credit, such as basic health or physical education, in order to graduate. Like bio-power, disciplinary knowledge and practices are used in our university and other community colleges and universities as well. For example, when admissions offices obtain shot records is one instance. Although this isn’t used in my college, another instance is when a university requires students to attend religious services held by the school or receive a religion credit in order to graduate.

De Beauvoir’s view that women are to be a certain way and that way is usually being unsatisfied and at the beckon call of men. “In every period, in each case, society and the individual decide in accordance with their heads, very often they project into the myth adopted the institutions and values to which they adhere.” (De Beauvoir, 1267) In Gardens of the Moon the female characters should have adhered to the myth. They should be viewed as De Beauvoir projects them to be. Erikson had another idea completely though. He twists the lenses we are set to look through and rips it to create a new lens to look through. A lens that tells us that woman can be more than just objects set to fulfil the need of men.

Michael Foucault distinguishes between two different and distinct forms of power, disciplinary and sovereign. Fouccault describes disciplinary power as the new type of power in the modern civilization. The use of disciplinary power transpired in the 17th and 18th century, and it used specific procedures such as distributing individuals into space, controls of activity, observation, judging, and examination, to regulate the people.

Although Foucault believes that people are not the authors of society, discourses are governed independently of anyone’s purpose (Learning Companion 2), the institutions he mentions help to keep order in society, although he is concerned about who can claim the authority of who has the power to rule how others should behave (Foucault cited by Silva, 2009, p319).

In Michael Foucault’s work, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, he discusses how we are always being watched. That the way society has been structured has forced us to always think someone with more power is watching us therefore we should behave better. In his work he puts forward his main ideas and arguments which are power and knowledge, the body, the history of the soul, prison and society, and paradox and contrast. He observes and or studies the relationship between each term and elaborates on each one of his

The panopticon is a prison with a big watch tower in the middle. It was built like this so the prisoners can be efficiently watched and guarded. The prisoners every move was watched and monitored. This was another way of punishment because they weren’t being punished physically, but mentally. The prisoner’s minds were being controlled, instead of their bodies. Foucault believes that modern society is the same way as the prison was run, maybe not to the same extreme, though. Everything is run by the state like for example, schools, hospitals, police stations, jobs, and many more.

A second point, often missed by Foucault’s readers is he did not always advocate direct resistance. Foucault, on the contrary, never committed to confrontational or non-confrontational avenues of resisting, and evaluating the powers which grip our lives (?:?). Thinkers should, if anything, suppress the reactionary temptation. We should always take a reflective moment as power dynamics change; doing otherwise is

Michel Foucault is a very famous French intellectual who practiced the knowledge of sociology. Foucault analyzed how knowledge related to social structures, in particular the concept of punishment within the penal system. His theory through, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, is a detailed outline of the disciplinary society; in which organizes populations, their relations to power formations, and the corresponding conceptions of the subjects themselves. Previously, this type of punishment focused on torture and dismemberment, in which was applied directly to bodies. Foucault mentions through his literary piece, “the soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy: the soul is the prison of the body (p.30). However, today, the notion of punishment involves public appearances in a court and much more humane sentences. However, it is important to note and to understand the idea of power and knowledge; it is fundamental to understand the social system as a whole.

Foucault in theorizing the relationship between power and knowledge basically focused on how power operated in the institutions and in its techniques. The point is how power was supported by knowledge in the functioning of institutions of punishment. “He places the body at the centre of the struggles between different formations of power/knowledge. The techniques of regulation are applied to the body” (Wheterell et al., 2001: 78)

For Foucault power is positive in the sense that it maintains discipline in the society as we have to cooperate and obey the rules and power also ensures that we do things however it is negative in the sense that it deters us from doing something. For example, if a person murders someone, they know that they will be arrested because it is declared as a crime. As power lies in civil society for Gramsci; civil society allows participation whereby people know their rights however though it allows participation hegemonic ideology presents interests of dominant class as the interest of all (Gramsci, 1977, 181). An example in this case can be that of we elect the government which is to say that we have a say on which government should rule us however it is for the interests of the government as through us it is able to maintain capitalism from the labour that we