Review on Disciplinary Power Theory (Book Review Sample)

Name
Tutor
Institution
Date
Should disciplinary power (Foucault) be seen as an extension of the three-dimensional model of power or as a quite different understanding of power?
Michel Foucault, a French postmodernist developed the disciplinary power theory. The theory commonly referred to as Foucault, describes power as diffuse. This model compares power to something that is persuasive and dispersive. In his thinking, power is among the people and not accumulated among the ruling elite. The three- dimensional model of power on the other hand, was developed by Steven Lukes in 1974. His idea of power is when a Person A makes decisions that will negatively affect the interests of person B. This paper seeks to outline the concepts of disciplinary power that set it apart from the three-dimensional model of power. The paper also seeks to highlight the aspects of the Foucault model that make it an extension of the three-dimensional model of power.
Foucault contradicts the traditional belief that ‘power is held by a group of people and works mostly by coercion’. He compares power to something that is everywhere. Power is everywhere and everybody has power in his/her own capacity. He gives the example of an oppressive boss. In the workplace, the boss has immense power over the workers. However, if the workers unite to form trade unions, they will have power over the boss (Knowledge/power.p 123). In this scenario, the power to force the boss into fulfilling the workers’ wishes lies the workers only that it is in a different from that found in their bosses. This model goes on to say power is found everywhere ranging from schools, churches and the public. This understanding of power is different from the first dimension of power which states that power is exercised by individuals who have the ability to change the behavior of others through the decision making process. Using the example of the workplace, the boss will make decisions that will influence the behavior of the employees. If the boss decided that there would be no more late- coming, all the employees will change their behavior to ensure that they arrive on time.
In his book ‘the history of Sexuality’ Foucault says that Power is not something that is acquired, passed on or seized (94-95). He further notes, power cannot be held onto or even slip away. This description sets the discovery model apart from the three-dimensional model of power which depicts power as something that can be passed down from one generation to another. "Power is exercised from innumerable sources in the inter-play of nonegalitarian and mobile relations" (p. 94). This statement is contrary to the first dimension of power that inconclusively claims that power is obtained from the decision making process- one who is able to make decisions that will influence the behavior of others, has power. In Foucault’s model, power does not have to emanate from the decision-making process or ability to change people’s behavior alone. Power comes from numerous sources and in various forms. Power comes from below hence no struggles between the rulers and the ruled.
"Perhaps too, we should abandon the idea that knowledge can only exist where power relations are suspended" (Foucault, p. 27). Power encourages knowledge and not only because it serves its interests. Foucault further writes, the political investment of the body and the microphysics of power presupposes therefore abandoning the violence-ideology opposition. It is the same concept that raises the question of whether penal codes control the body or the soul. Foucault gives the example of Damiens torture in his book ‘Discipline and Punish’ (p.3-6). Damiens was condemned to make the amende honorable before the main door of the church in 1757. After that, he was to be quartered by four inexperienced horses. In this type of torture, the limbs of the accused were tied to four horses. The horses were then made to pull in four different directions such that the body of the condemned disintegrated into pieces. However, Damiens’ day of condemnation, they used four inexperienced horses. The writer indicates that they had to use an additional two horses to pull Damiens into pieces. Although he was a constant swearer, he uttered no blasphemous word during the entire torture. In contrast, he kept uttering the name of God to the amazement of many. The story shows that the body can be a very strong source of power. In the 16th Century, the power of the body was used to control behavior. Even then, the list of offenders never went down. This shows that the body is not a very effective tool of power-some people are able to overcome it.
According to Foucault’s book on discipline, the idea of discipline itself functions as an idea of power from any individual (p.194). Discipline is the power to do the appropriate thing even when the heart desires something else. "The art of punishing in the disciplinary power regime is aimed at neither repression nor precisely at expatiation." (p.182). Discipline refers individual actions into a field of comparison, a space of differentiation and a rule worth following. Discipline will determine the accuracy with which people will follow rules. Those with a higher power of discipline are likely to follow the law to the letter. On the other, those with a low power (discipline) are bound to fall into temptation and act against the law to suit their interests. Discipline serves the following purposes in Foucault’s model of power.
1 It measures in quantitative terms, the abilities, levels and nature of individulas.
2 It introduces the constraints of a conformity that needs to be achieved through value- giving.
3 It traces the limit which will define the relation differences to the external frontier of the abnormal.
Alternatively, Foucault’s disciplinary model is an extension of the three-dimensional model of power. Foucault admits that there must be resistance in power (History of Sexuality, p. 95). More often than not, the resistance is usually form within the power. The resistance can take the form of rebellion, refusal or revolt. Resistances are not necessarily a result of failed promises. They are bound to happen in any setting of power. This is because not everybody will be satisfied with the position of power. Worth noting is the fact that these resistances are occasionally massive ruptures or radical. More often than not, they are transitory and mobile resistances that cleavage the core of the society thereby creating small dissimilar groupings that were one unified. Codification of these small resistances is what leads to a massive revolution such as the one addressed in the second dimension of the three- dimensional theory of power. According to Steven Luke’s second dimension of power, the powerful group will prevent the public airing of conflicts in policy. In Luke’s model, there is resistance too and only the powerful ones can stamp it out. However, resistance in this model may be eruptive unlike in Foucault’s theory. Foucault’s theory is an extension of the three-dimensional model of power in that it addresses the passive resistances in a community while the second dimension addresses conflicts in policy.
The use of the body as a tool of power is reinforcing discipline is also another extension of the third dimension of power. According to Luke’s three- dimensional model of power, the third dimension states that, "sometimes people may act willingly to what may be contrary to their most primary interests." In this dimension, the powerful are able to transform the weak to behave in a way they pre...