Michel Foucault's Theories explained by Kalyani Vallath

We love Foucault🤩
As you know, Foucault was a French philosopher who applied philosophy in sociology, culture, history, literature, psychology, and other Humanities.

Courtesy: http://www.the-philosophy.com/foucault-power-knowledge

Foucault stressed on subjective experience.👻
Within philosophy, one area particularly of interest to Foucault is phenomenology.  Phenomenology studies the world “as it is experienced by the human being” rather than the world “as it really exists, beyond experience.”  In other words, Foucault was interested in the subjective experience of things, rather than in the thing as an objective entity.

Well, what exactly did Foucault do?👀💀🔥
Foucault studied not a subject, or discourse, but studied how that discourse came into being.

Take madness, for example, which is one of the first discourses he studied.  He did not study the definition of madness, the various types of madness, how they can be cured, etc in the conventional sense.  Rather, he studied why certain forms of behavior are categorized as madness, how this discourse came into being in the first place, what are the “conditions of its possibility.”  In other words, he was studying not madness as an objective thing that already existed, not as something that is transparent and true; rather, he was studying the history of the discourse called madness, and how that discourse was created, and why.  Foucault did the same questioning with medicine in general, and with the sciences.

The term Archeology👈
This questioning of how knowledge systems came into being, and what are the conditions under which knowledges are constructed is called “archeology.”

Archeological Approach to History✍️
Foucault, for example, had an archeological approach to history.  This means Foucault didn’t take history for granted, as something that develops smoothly and coherently, as history is depicted in history books.  Foucault’s concept of history is that it is not something that is ordered, but he regards history as chaotic and contradictory.  He considers history as a discourse that is constructed, and this construction reveals certain pre-conditions of knowledge and certain processes of power.

A simple example🧐
It is when heterosexuality is considered “normal” and “good” that homosexuality becomes "abnormal" and "bad".  In other words, the “knowledge” that homosexuality is "bad" is based on the pre-condition that heterosexuality be considered "good" and "normal".  Similarly, all our knowledges of what is good and normal is based on certain pre-conditions that are equally constructed.  Thus, our knowledges involve issues of authority and restraint, which constitute the whole human subject.

A Later Term, Genealogy💃
While the term “archeology” is about how a discourse or knowledge system is constructed, another term, “genealogy” is also about how the human subject is constructed.  To illustrate how the human subject is constructed based on pre-conditions of power and knowledge, Foucault discussed prison and methods of punishment as well as sexuality.  Here he showed how the human subject is defined entirely by his / her position within a network of power relations.

Power/Knowledge⛪🏫🕌🗽
The relationship between power and knowledge has been always a central theme in the social sciences. Foucault's views have been hugely influential in our understanding of power. He does not regard power as an instrument wielded by people or groups (or agents) as an instrument of coercion. Neither does he talk about the structures within which such agents operate. Rather, Foucault upholds the idea that ‘power is everywhere’ and 'comes from everywhere' -- it is diffused, and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of truth’. The  ‘regimes of truth’ are the result of scientific discourse and institutions, and are reinforced constantly through the education system, the media, political and economic ideologies and so on.

Foucault uses the term ‘Power/Knowledge’ to show that power is created and maintained through accepted forms of knowledge, scientific understanding and ‘truth’.

An Example of Power/Knowledge😮
In The History of Sexuality, Foucault gives the example of Confession as a common practice in 18th-19th century secular societies that led people to 'tell the truth' about their sexual desires and emotions, thereby disciplining them and establishing notions of 'normal' sexual identity.

The terms Episteme and Dispositif💣🗡️📣
Foucault used the term Episteme in The Order of Things to denote the unconscious structures or set of rules and conventions that make certain knowledges possible in any particular period of time.

Another term Dispositif (or Apparatus) indicates the various institutional, physical and administrative mechanisms and knowledge structures which maintain the exercise of power within the social body.

Biopolitics👁️🖐️🦵
In the first volume of The History of Sexuality (titled The Will to Knowledge), Foucault talks about Biopolitics, an idea which he developed in later works also. Biopolitics is a complicated concept that examines the mechanisms through which human life processes are 'managed' within the regimes of authority in relation to knowledge, power, and the processes of subjectivation. [In case you wonder what is Subjectivation, it is the complex process by which one becomes a subject.]

Foucault's concept of Biopolitics has been further developed by the Italian philosopher Giogio Agamben.

Biopolitics involves Biopower.
And what's Biopower?🙇
Biopower is the way in which power is used to manage human beings in large groups, this leading to the control of entire populations. Examples would be social rules and regulations, habits, health and reproductive practices, etc, as well as the conception of the State as a “body” and the use of State power on the people as essential to their “well-being".

The term Biopolitics was coined by Rudolf Kjellén, who also coined the term geopolitics, in his 1905 book The Great Powers.

Discipline and Training of Docile Bodies👰🧒🧕
Bipower, which is the power exercised over bodies, is related to disciplinary power, which Foucault had discussed in his 1975 work Discipline and Punish. Discipline is related to 'Training', which is an important means of operation of power upon the docile body. The Docile Body, as against a Protesting Body, exists within a system under constant surveillance and regulation (which is often subtle and invisible), thereby leading to normalisation and acceptance of that system.

Foucault talks about a range of institutions in modern disciplinary societies -- prisons, the military, schools -- where docile bodies are disciplined.

Governmentality🇳🇿🇬🇧🇮🇳
The concepts of Power/Knowledge, Biopolitics, Biopower and Discipline are all important in understanding the concept of Governmentality, which refers to the at of ruling, the organized set of practices used by governments to rule over people.

Carceral Archipelago and Panopticon☠️👀
A discussion on the social control and discipline of people by governments and power centres leads to the notions of Carceral archipelago and Panoptic State. Carceral archipelago  (which means a group of islands that form a prison) is the term Foucault used for the surveillance systems and technologies used by the carceral State (or Prison State) to control the people. Panopticon is originally a circular prison envisaged by the 17th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham that controls the prisoners not by physical force but constant surveillance. The disciplinary State, according to Foucault, functions like a Panopticon, subjecting people to constant surveillance and control.

Contemporary nation-states in the world of digital media is the best example of the Carceral State or Panoptic State where people are no longer free.

Why are all these ideas important?♥️
Foucault's theories give voice and power to ordinary people and marginal communities who have been subjected to power and oppression. Because we are all subject to power in so many different ways, we should stand up for people who are victims of abuses of power.  Ordinary people have a right and duty to confront governments and other agencies of power.

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