Foucault Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Foucault - Essay ExampleThis evolution of his theory can be traced from 1960s to 1980s and reveal a human body of study of how agency influences decision-making. In 1960s he uses terms like contestation and transgression and uses them interchangeably. In 1970s Foucault moved to struggle and resistance which are over again synonymous. And finally in 1980s he used the term agonism. All these terms used through a period of time defining his core focus on the play of resistance, and Foucaults conceptualization of originator preferably than strict references made to limits. (AMOUDI)Foucaults power-resistance relation is a dynamic analysis of the modern day world. The groundwork of the position of power being laid in the previous theories which evolved amidst 1960s and 1970s, the economics of power has been more than stringently presented in these theories. Michel Foucault goes further to give a definition of power relations in an essay create in 1982 The exercise of power is not simply a relationship between partners, individual or collective it is a way in which certain accomplishments modify others Although the exercise of power may claim violence or consent, these are not inherent to apower relation. Moreover, one of the consequences of this limit to power is that resistance is the sine qua non condition for power. Indeed, a power relation, is not an action which determines another action, but an action which influences an other action by determining a field of possibility for it. In this field of possibility, ship canal of resisting are by definition present. The second limit set to power relations, at that placefore, is fight. According to Foucault, the goal of a fight is either to force the opponent to abandon the game (hence a victory which dissolves the power relation) or to set up a new relation of power. In other words, there is circularity between power relations open to fight and a fight aiming at power relations. Therefore there is a consta nt instability in a power relationship which excludes by definition some(prenominal) form of determinism. By stressing the ontological link between power and resistance, Foucault invites us to understand his reading of the mechanisms of power he highlights. Power is to be understood then as a form of power, which is perpetually confronted with capableness (and some time actual) resistance. (AMOUDI)In his book Order of Things and Foucault Reader, he addresses the power of observation and the impact of it on the observed. He emphasizes that observing people and judging them requires a degree of conformity, which is less obvious and subsequently, according to Foucault more powerful because of its restrained state. This same impact is seen in Panopticism where Foucault shows a transition in prison systems from somatic manipulation to implicit manipulation. This new form of control is implemented through a physical expression that creates the illusion of continual surveillance. This surveillance creates the impetus for self-control. It is the power of being observed which places the role of control on the subjects. People control themselves out of a desire not to be looked d ingest upon - to control their own public reputations. Panopticism works in a similar way - by continual observation or the illusion of continual observation, people are expected to continually discipline themselves so as to evacuate being disciplined by an external source (Foucault & Rabinow) The power which is