Foucault, Body of the condemned; Docile bodies Power as control Foucault, Body of the condemned; Docile bodies

Unit 3: Power as control Unit 1: Power as victory: the power to overcome foes and obstacles. Unit 2: Power as domination: The power to foreclose conflict and maintain an unequal social order. Unit 3: Power as control: power shapes “subjectivity” / power shapes “subjects” -Subjectivity: internal reality, i.e. our perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires. -Subject: “an entity with agency” able to impact the world around it. Control induces/forecloses conflict and defines foes, obstacles, and victory.

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) French Theorist, Historian, Activist, Journalist, and Critic Madness and Civilization (1964) The Order of Things (1966) Discipline and Punish (1975) The History of Sexuality (1976) Most cited Social science scholar of the 20th century

Discipline and punish Why did regimes stop public torture and execution suddenly in the 17th century? Why did prisons become the norm? Concludes that these changes occurred because the form and character of power mutated. Identifies changing modes of power

“Sovereign Power” Hobbes Locke Machiavelli

“Sovereign Power” in the torture of Damiens, 1757 Fetched from his prison cell on the morning of 28 March 1757, Damiens allegedly said "La journée sera rude" ("The day will be hard").[7] He was first subjected to a torture in which his legs were painfully compressed by devices called "boots."[8][9] He was then tortured with red-hot pincers; the hand with which he had held the knife during the attempted assassination was burned using sulphur; molten wax, molten lead, and boiling oil were poured into his wounds. He was then remanded to the royal executioner, Charles Henri Sanson, who harnessed horses to his arms and legs to be dismembered. But Damiens' limbs did not separate easily: the officiants ordered Sanson to cut Damiens' tendons, and once that was done the horses were able to perform the dismemberment.[8][9][10] Once Damiens was dismembered, to the applause of the crowd, his reportedly still-living torso was burnt at the stake.[11](Some accounts say he died when his last remaining arm was removed.)[8][9] After his death, the remains of Damiens' corpse were reduced to ashes and scattered in the wind.[12] His house was razed, his brothers and sisters were forced to change their names, and his father, wife, and daughter were banished from France. “THE BODY IS THE OBJECT OF PUNISHMENT”

By 1840: The soul is the object of punishment By 1840: The soul is the object of punishment. “the soul is the prison of the body” (30) WHO PUNISHES NOW?

WHO PUNISHES IS POWERFUL: IN 1757, “POWER” IS THE SOVEREIGN BY 1840 “POWER IS ANONYMOUS” WHY DID POWER BECOME “ANONYMOUS”?

The “official” version: Liberal reformers of the 18th century push to abolish public torture in favor of a more rational and humane punishment – the prison. Punishment should be guided by “reason”. Foucault identifies a political utility to abolishing the public torture as punishment. The scaffold (public torture) “glorified” the condemned (p. 67): “The condemned man found himself transformed into a hero by the sheer extent of his widely advertised crimes…against the law, against the rich, the powerful…he appeared to have waged a struggle…he died, in his own way, like a saint”. The spectacle of the scaffold produced “discourses” that undermined authorities. Regimes that depended upon the scaffold found themselves at a political disadvantage in changing socioeconomic conditions. New methods were needed.

NEW METHODS OF PUNISHMENT CORRELATE WITH BROADER SOCIAL CHANGES PUNISHMENT GUIDED BY “REASON” EMPHASIZES SURVEILLANCE, DOCUMENTATION, RANKING, AND CORRECTION. FOUCAULT OBSERVES A SIMILAR EMPHASIS IN INSTITUTIONS IN GENERAL, ESPECIALLY IN SCHOOLS. OBSERVES THE MIGRATION OF THE “DISCIPLINES” FROM THE MILITARY AND MONASTERIES TO SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS. CLAIMS THE PURPOSE OF THESE DISCIPLINES IS TO CREATE “DOCILE BODIES”. “WHAT WAS SO NEW IN THESE PROJECTS OF DOCILITY THAT INTERESTED THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SO MUCH” (136)? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE DOCILE BODY?

WHAT ARE THE “DISCIPLINES”? P. 137 WHAT ARE “MICRO-PHYSICS”? DETAILS P. 139 WHAT IS A “POLITICAL ANATOMY”? P. 28 “TECHNIQUES THAT SERVE AS….” WHAT IS “DISCIPLINE”? “A POLITICAL ANATOMY OF DETAIL” (139)? HUH?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A “DOCILE” BODY WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A “DOCILE” BODY? “SOMETHING THAT CAN BE MADE; OUT OF A FORMLESS CLAY, AN INAPT BODY [FROM WHICH] THE MACHINE REQUIRED CAN BE CONSTRUCTED” (135). HOW MIGHT “DISCIPLINE” SHAPE OUR “SOULS”?

Group WORK: SEEING DISCIPLINE Disciplinary force is “anonymous”; it flows from persons but also from objects, architecture, arrangements. Identify and name objects in this class room that discipline the “details of your body” i.e. your posture, your sense of time, what you do with your eyes, your hands, your head, your mouth, etc.. Think about details of your body and how they are determined by objects that surround you. HOW ARE YOU SUBTLY COERCED BY OBJECTS AND ARCHITECHTURE? Look for evidence of “rank” in the class room, identify it, name it. IS THIS RANK NECESARY? In what ways are you “docile”?