How different would Foucault be from sociologists and historians, if
his analyses of power relations (and he, rightly so, dismisses the
concept of power), concerned themselves with the social
variables of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and so on??
"The differences in power between genders is something that has been around for
a long time, much longer than the deployment of sexuality which F aims at
in Hist of Sex."
Is it not the case that this difference is essentially
methodological??? It is a difference between Domination and
Relationality, between Power and Power Relations, between Dialectic
and Genealogy/Archaeology.
Both the concepts of power and power relations are
inscribed within certain research methodologies, within the idea of
social ontology. The concept of power serves the social ontology of
social stratification, while power relations is reference to
horizontal immanence. The methodology of the concept of power allows
us to see relations of domination between different kinds of social
identities, while that of power relations allows us to perceive
horizontal relations of different strategies in the contestation of resources
and interests. Thus to be gendered in power relations is an effect of
these relations, and the same applies to the formation of other
identities. In this regard, in power relations there are no pre-given
social identities, such as class, race, or gender that dominate or
are even dominated. Power relations, for Foucault, are not relations
of domination; there is no social identity that is denied
participation and self-determination in the constitution of
social life.
=====================
his analyses of power relations (and he, rightly so, dismisses the
concept of power), concerned themselves with the social
variables of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and so on??
"The differences in power between genders is something that has been around for
a long time, much longer than the deployment of sexuality which F aims at
in Hist of Sex."
Is it not the case that this difference is essentially
methodological??? It is a difference between Domination and
Relationality, between Power and Power Relations, between Dialectic
and Genealogy/Archaeology.
Both the concepts of power and power relations are
inscribed within certain research methodologies, within the idea of
social ontology. The concept of power serves the social ontology of
social stratification, while power relations is reference to
horizontal immanence. The methodology of the concept of power allows
us to see relations of domination between different kinds of social
identities, while that of power relations allows us to perceive
horizontal relations of different strategies in the contestation of resources
and interests. Thus to be gendered in power relations is an effect of
these relations, and the same applies to the formation of other
identities. In this regard, in power relations there are no pre-given
social identities, such as class, race, or gender that dominate or
are even dominated. Power relations, for Foucault, are not relations
of domination; there is no social identity that is denied
participation and self-determination in the constitution of
social life.
=====================