FOUCAULT & POWER

Born in 1926 in France, Michel Foucault was associated with post-structuralist and post modernist philosophy; however, Foucault didn’t necessarily accept those titles. Foucault was known to analyze how power and knowledge were connected, delving into politics. Notably, the development of his ideas wasn’t linear; in fact, they were known to evolve throughout his books. Foucault was also gay, and openly so, which significantly shaped the way he viewed institutions and ideas.

As discussed earlier, Foucault majorly developed his ideas through his books. Let’s briefly go over a few of the most prominent books that he wrote: Madness and Civilization, written in 1961, which debates society’s treatment of the mentally ill; The Birth of the Clinic, written in 1963, which discusses how modern medical institutions see bodies; Discipline and Punish, written in 1975, that details the history of prisons and surveillance, along with panopticism; The History of Sexuality, authored in 1976, goes over the influence of institutions and discourse on sexuality. Along with the many books Foucault wrote, he also wrote essays, conducted lectures, and participated in interviews that also changed his opinions.

One major idea that Foucault did a lot of work on was power and the role it played on the world. We’re going to talk about 4 major ideas about power that Foucault had. The first idea was pretty simple: Foucault believed that power existed everywhere. From student to teacher, spouse to spouse, government to law, and much more. This leads to the next idea, that power and knowledge are connected. Foucault believed that knowledge gives us the ability to give people labels and “section” them, which assigns certain people more power than others. The third idea is the idea of disciplinary power, which exists in schools and prisons to shape how people behave. Finally, we have biopower, which discusses the philosophy of how states manage populations through surveillance, health, and statistics.

Interestingly, Foucault believed that power is so profound that truth is created by power. Thus, Foucault didn’t believe in absolute truth. He also didn’t debate what was good or what was bad, like a moralist, but instead just detailed how systems work. Foucault also preached that human identity is shaped by historical and cultural forces.

Foucault’s philosophy is appealing to many because it focuses on more “real” ideas and systems. It also played a vital role in the reform movements of gender, race, sexuality, and prison systems. In fact, Foucault’s ideas are very popularly used today in discussions on sociology, poli sci, cultural studies, and critical theory.