Michel Foucault Theoretical Perspectives

Analysis of Theoretical Perspectives of Michel Foucault

Foucault was a twentieth century French philosopher and historian who received his early education at local schools and then at Catholic school. His father was a physician and he was brought up in a bourgeois family. He studied philosophy and psychology at Ecole Normale Superieure where he was introduced to Marxist structure. Life at Ecole was difficult for him as he suffered from depression and even attempted suicide. He was taken to the psychiatrist and maybe because of this he became fascinated with psychology.
His first major work was study of mental illness. In Madness and Civilisation (1961), he talked about how madness was seen by the society as a social construct different

Power is exercised through capitalist or bourgeois. For Foucault power is everywhere and comes from different sources. It cannot be located with the ruling class but also depends on other factors like gender, sexuality, and race. There are two types of power- Sovereign power and disciplinary power. Sovereign is an absolute representation of power wherein a monarch acts as a referee of power. He is the sole authority to make decisions on the matter of war, peace and other major issues of the society. Disciplinary power is more visible form of power. This is a kind of power where we exercise control over ourselves. An example of disciplinary technique is Panopticon. Panopticon is an architectural figure which was developed by Bentham. It can be described as a building at the periphery, at the centre of which there is a tower which has large windows that open onto the inner side of the ring. The purpose of these windows is to allow the light to pass cross through the cell. Through backlighting, the person standing on the tower can see the shadow of the person and can keep an eye on the activities of inmate. The Panopticon mechanism reverses the three functions of dungeon, namely enclosure, deprivation of light and hide, wherein it eliminates the last two and preserves the first one. Full lightening acts as a better trap along with an eye by the supervisor as compared to darkness. The concept of this

The one is blockade, which is an enclosed area, which works with negative functions like arrest of the criminal, breaking contact with outside world and suspending time. The second is panopticism. It is a discipline mechanism, which ‘improves the exercise of power by making it lighter, more rapid and more effective’. According to me, Foucault’s theory about disciplinary power can be applied in the modern world also. The structure of modern buildings with transparent glasses, the installation of CCTV cameras, swiping in and out via security pass are some of the examples of disciplinary power. E.g. the purpose that CCTV cameras serve is that they create a sense of constant supervision of their acts by the person behind those cameras. This renders the person to manage his acts and prevents him/her from doing anything wrong. Similarly the reason behind the modern structure of the buildings is same. Also power is not a discipline, but discipline is a way in which power can be