Works of Michel Foucault Analysis - Essay Example

How has Michel Foucault's work on the history of ivity, governmentality and space been highly influential in shaping the geographers' understanding of the relationship between the individual and the modern city / identity i.e. the avant garde/ as in geographical discourses. Introduction: Foucault's work on subjectivity, governmentality and space has been highly influential in shaping an understanding of the relationship between issues of space and identity. Foucault developed the theory of disciplinary power in which he describes the unique relationship between the process of madness and the process of being imprisoned. The role of prisons has been highlighted by Foucault as being instrumental in the construction of identity for an individual. Through Foucault's theory of disciplinary power, the identity for normal and abnormal individuals seen in terms of ideal citizen or mad person has been according to him constructed through a broad discursive system of governmentality. In this analysis we discuss the dimensions and the process of the Panoptic and the implications of social monitoring, define the notions of disciplinary power as in prisons and institutions, link the production of space with surveillance and how spatial limitations of an individual seem to be driven by the concepts of close monitoring and we also provide an analysis of Foucault's perspective on the body/soul and its relations to the modern or contemporary understanding of social regulations. We finally discuss the relationship between conduct and identity through technologies of the self and analyse issues relating the individual to notions of identity and subjectivity. The concepts of governmentality and subjectivity are thus crucial to the understanding of the concept of modernity and the place of a modern man in society. Analysing Space and Identity Foucault gave considerable importance to surveillance that was represented in the space as seen in prisons, mental institutions, hospitals and factories and this is stated in his description of the Panoptic. Foucault was however exclusively interested not in the process of surveillance so much as the social implications and the concept of identity. How the panoptic intentions are diffused in society, how the surveillance redefines individual and mental space in societies are perceived through an understanding of 'technologies of self' and how definitions of self can differ between our perception of selves and others' perceptions of identity and self (Foucault, 1979; Rose 1996). In every aspect and activity of life we are faced with social situations and spatial regulations and we also have to consider dispositions of people around us as well as our mutual perceptions of self and society. How do we relate to others what are our limitations in interaction how do our sense of identity and that of others relate to social systems and the notion of control Foucault for instance used the example of queuing up for a bus or in a shop which tends to show the limits of space and also at the same time brings out a unique aspect of modernity in which there seem to be restrictions on what we can do and how we can do it (Alford, 2000). Our activities are defined with these spatial and temporal limitations. Thus stepping into a queuing system seems to represent a passive submission of the modern forms of mental and corporal management and our daily life seems to be controlled by moral and social regulations at every step. Public space is thus not a free space but a space controlled by social norms and expectations, regulations and perceptions that are again determined by institutionalised patterns of subjectivity and control (see Fyfe et al, 1996). From a geographer's standpoint, spatiality is central to how the subject can be made or controlled, how incorrect conduct can be distinguished from correct conduct and how the pattern of moral regulation can be shaped around notions of gender, race, age or prejudices and how the meaning, design and use of urban space seems to have been shaped by these factors. Foucault analyses the relationship between the modern condition and production of modern geographies and subjectivities, sense of identity and issues of space and governmentality. We move on further to identify the issues that relate space and individual identity and the implications on the life of an individual within the modern city. Considering Foucault's emphasis on prison life, and societal life being shaped by limitations of space and control, we analyse the geographical issues of space, time and the role of the individual within the walls of society that is exclusively driven by social regulations. Foucault's analysis of a modern sensitivity and existence has been taken up by many scholars who discuss Foucault's ideas as fundamentally postmodernist. Lyotard (1993) defines postmodernism as incredulity towards meta narratives. Whether or not Foucault's ideas are postmodernist, Foucault is definitely against all traditional historical analysis and sets his philosophical position within the destruction of both history and subjectivity. The individual in chains and being monitored or controlled in all aspects of social living seems to justify Foucault's analysis of space and the individual being controlled by limits of space so he remains no longer an autonomous thinking subject. To define the position of an individual within the power-knowledge framework, Foucault comments on the unique relationship between the individual society and structures of power by saying that 'I am not saying that the human sciences emerged from the prison. But if they have been able to be formed and to produce so many profound changes in the episteme, it is because they have been conveyed by a specific and new modality of power: a certain policy of the body. . . This policy required the involvement of definite relations of knowledge in relations of power; it called for a technique of overlapping subjection and objectification; it brought with it new procedures of individualization. The carceral network constituted one of the armatures of this power-knowledge that has made the human sciences historically possible'(Foucault, 1979, p.305) In this analysis we can understand how Foucault related the birth of the prison as an important development of social systems and how this relates to a new modality of power and redefines the equation of the individual to social authority bringing in new meanings to subjectification and objectification. To show the immense influence of external power of individual lives, Foucault states further 'But in thinking of the mechanisms of power, I am thinking rather of its capillary form of existence, the point where power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives'. (Foucault, 1980, p.39) Foucault has studied three 'technologies of power', namely torture, punishment, and discipline to describe changes in the legal and social attitudes towards criminals, and also to trace the implications of these aspects of power on the construction of the notion of a modern individual (Foucault, 1980; Foucault, 1979). The relations between torture, punishment and discipline have been drawn to show how these aspects of power can be placed within a social context. He defines the modern individual in terms of subjectivity and consciousness constituted on the basis of power-knowledge relations revealed by several operative forces. Thus sovereignty of the individual as a free subject in a free society has been broken by Foucault's analyses that deconstruct all notions of subjectivity as being shaped by power structures. In fact even the soul has been subject to analysis and the relations of the soul and body in terms of societal existence and power structures has been taken up. Foucault writes, 'This real, non-corporeal soul is not a substance; it is the element in which are articulated the effects of a certain type of power and the reference of a certain type of knowledge. . . On this reality-reference, various concepts have been constructed and domains of analysis carved out; psyche, subjectivity, personality, consciousness, etc.; on it have been built scientific techniques and discourses, and the moral claims of humanism' (Foucault, 1979, p.29-30) The power knowledge relations in terms of subjectivity and control are also defined by understanding the importance of the individual body. The impact of power-knowledge relations on the body shows that individuals are not just objectified and treated as bodies but also gives new meaning to forms of individuality. Thus power discipline objectifies the subjective and Foucault states that it is discipline that makes individuals and is thus a process of individualization albeit as a process of objectification and separation. The individuation of a social body thus happens through discipline, punishment and social control through normalisation and process of examination. In fact examination and control in social systems are still seen in the monitoring of individual movements using close circuit television In Foucault's analysis, all disciplinary procedures such as examinations and control, which simultaneously individualize and normalize the social body, later expand to include the techniques of surveillance which is characteristic of the carceral nature of society that considers individuals as separate, elemental rather than a holistic pattern of existence. In this predicament the individual as a social subject is thus a concept that seems to have been overpowered by objectification via control. The principle of panopticism is applied in all aspects of society that is driven by control and social regulations that objectifies individuals to separate elements although power itself is not negative. In fact Foucault states, '[i]t produces reality: it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production' (Foucault, 1979, p.194). The individual in society is thus constructed as objective through power knowledge and social control of authority. Conclusion: Foucault's ideas have however been criticised extensively. For instance, Sullivan (1996) has provided an argument that Foucault did not analyse the process of punishment but tried to establish that the prison was conceived to perform the latent social control function of discipline. But since discipline is not a conscious function, there has been no conscious effort to justify or examine it either. So considering Foucault's analysis, the modern prison has emerged as a questionable institution (Sullivan, 1996). Foucault's analyses on the social implications of prisons rather than the process of punishment itself seem to have simplified, albeit negatively a rather complex social and political institution. Alford also analyses Foucault considering the possibilities of incorrect assumptions in the analysis of the role prisons and the control of subjectivity (Alford, 2000). The deconstruction of subjectivity as in Foucault's analyses seems to have shaped and influenced geographers' understanding of space and the limitations of the social structures of a city. the individual placed within the boundaries of the city walls are faced with limits at every aspect of their life and this is defined by monitoring and controlling social structures such as mental institutions, prisons and hospitals which tends to objectify and normalise the process of socialisation so that the individual is seen as objects defined by the body as an entity. Foucault's analysis though postmodernist and opposed to historical analysis of a subjective individual gives us an interesting analysis of power knowledge and sees the deconstruction of an individual through power and control, yet a simultaneous construction of the truth of individualism through power-knowledge relations. Bibliography Alford C.F. What would it matter if everything Foucault said about prison were wrong Discipline and Punish after twenty years Theory and Society, Volume 29,Number 1, February 2000, pp. 125-146(22) Kluwer Academic Publishers Dreyfus, Hubert, and Paul Rabinow. Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1977. Foucault, Michel.Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (DP) trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Routledge, 1979. Foucault, Michel.Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 (PK), ed. Colin Gordon. New York: Pantheon. 1980. Fyfe,N.R Bannister,J.1996 City watching: closed circuit television surveillance in public spaces. Area.1996. 28/1, 37-46. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. (1993). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Rose, Nicolas 1996 Identity, Genealogy, History in Questions of Cultural Identity eds. Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, London. Sullivan R.R. The birth of the prison: discipline or punish Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 24,Number 5, 1996, pp. 449-458(10) Elsevier Science Read More