Ming the Merciless wrote:
> but if foucault is about studying power, and
> one defines "minority" in terms of power or lack thereof, then one
> could argue that foucault's ideas are especially urgent for that
> kind of minority. [...]
> of course i do agree with you that it's
> ultimately relevant to everyone, but demographics do show consistent
> differences w/r/2 minorities and "criminality" (jail populations),
> "work"(avg salary and work environment), "thinking" (opinion polls, voting
> patterns) etc. - and "scientific" study of such data often helps to
> perpetuate those differences (_the bell curve_ and co.)
But what I am saying is that I don't think that Foucault is about "power"
in _this_ sense, of "holding" political power in the present system.
It's not about getting a piece of the pie, about height of salary or
voting or equitable access to Harvard University. Rather, it's about
how we -- each of us -- produce these concepts of "power", "criminality",
"work", "science", "sanity", "education", how we produce our "truths"
about them, and how we -- as individuals and as a society -- are produced
by them in turn. Where have these notions been? Who and what is served by
them? Foucault, I think, is not about a more equitable access to the
goodies of the present system, but about producing a completely different
system, which means producing ourselves differently.
-m
> but if foucault is about studying power, and
> one defines "minority" in terms of power or lack thereof, then one
> could argue that foucault's ideas are especially urgent for that
> kind of minority. [...]
> of course i do agree with you that it's
> ultimately relevant to everyone, but demographics do show consistent
> differences w/r/2 minorities and "criminality" (jail populations),
> "work"(avg salary and work environment), "thinking" (opinion polls, voting
> patterns) etc. - and "scientific" study of such data often helps to
> perpetuate those differences (_the bell curve_ and co.)
But what I am saying is that I don't think that Foucault is about "power"
in _this_ sense, of "holding" political power in the present system.
It's not about getting a piece of the pie, about height of salary or
voting or equitable access to Harvard University. Rather, it's about
how we -- each of us -- produce these concepts of "power", "criminality",
"work", "science", "sanity", "education", how we produce our "truths"
about them, and how we -- as individuals and as a society -- are produced
by them in turn. Where have these notions been? Who and what is served by
them? Foucault, I think, is not about a more equitable access to the
goodies of the present system, but about producing a completely different
system, which means producing ourselves differently.
-m