Kendall

Julia Zay

Fashioning the Body

05 October 2007

The definition of the word “power” is something that most wouldn’t ponder unless provoked to do so. Michel Foucault prompts the reconsideration of our understanding of this word throughout his work The History of Sexuality. By using “power” in new contexts throughout this volume the meaning comes to seem complicated, or at least to take on new forms.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word power as “the ability to act or affect something strongly; physical or mental strength; might; vigor; energy; effectiveness.” Another definition provided is that of “political or national strength,” which comes as no surprise. Many of us think of power in a hierarchical sense, which is linear and coming from “above” to bear down on us. It seems to give us little choice, and impedes our agency. It comes from institutions of the state such as the hospital, the asylum, our government, the school.

Foucault, however, does not feel that power is such a limiting, linear act that leaves us with little control. On the contrary he maintains that we all are participants in the mechanisms of power that run throughout our lives. “If there was no resistance, there would be no power relations, because it would simply be a matter of obedience.” (Fillingham, 151)

Not only does he refer to power in and of itself, but he also discusses “knowledge-power,” and the power/ pleasure relationship in which the two are linked in “perpetual spirals.” (Foucault, 45) There are the mechanisms and techniques of power, and then there is the role that power plays in confession which is part of discourse. Not to mention the shifting and fluid power relationships that exist at any given time. Power no longer seems such a simple word. The idea that power comes simply and linearly from above must be discarded. There is power all around us, happening and being produced through many mechanisms, techniques, relationships and discourses which are all linked inextricably together feeding in and influencing one another.

The idea of “knowledge-power” that Foucault discusses goes back to the age old adage “knowledge IS power.” Knowledge-power works through discourse, of which confession is one kind. Discourse is in itself a way of power production, through the propagation of knowledge. (Foucault, 12) Discourse can be seen throughout every facet of power that is discussed throughout the text. Discourse produces power, can be a technique of power, keep power and pleasure feeding each other, and the discourse of confession is one in which power relationships play out.

There is “a subtle network of discourses, special knowledges, pleasure and powers” that seem to come together in what Foucault calls the “scientia sexualis” specifically the act of confession. (Foucault 72, 58) “Confession is a ritual discourse… it is also a ritual that unfolds within a power relationship, for one does not confess without the presence… of a partner who is not simply the interlocutor but the authority…” (Foucault, 61)

Within the discourse of confession is the “perpetual spirals of power and pleasure.” Foucault speaks of the act of the one who confesses hiding then releasing information as a form of pleasure, while the one who seeks the confession also receives pleasure in the act of seeking. Both have power- the confessor to give or hold back information and the listener has the “power to forgive, console and direct” as well as the power of the knowledge that he receives. (Foucault, 66) The act of confession has become a “ritual discourse” and has been internalized so that “we no longer perceive it as the effect of a power.” (Foucault 61, 60)

The play The Balcony by Jean Genet is a wonderful example of what Foucault is talking about. Set in a brothel (an institution that Foucault mentions) it blurs the lines between reality to show us power. There is power in the all-knowing Madam who runs the brothel with an eye through her “apparatus.” There is the power of the judge over the thief- as he wrests a confession out of her. A confession also is sought by the Bishop who then has the power to bless and console. The working girls have power to play along, or shatter the men’s fantasies in one fell swoop. These are just a few examples of the power relationships that run through Genet’s masterful work.

Through all of these explorations of power and its workings the definition still does not seem to change. It may confuse our usual understanding of the word by the way in which Foucault uses it, but “power” is still a force with an impact upon us. I believe his usages of the word hold true to the definitions found in the Oxford English Dictionary that say power can be a “person, body or thing,” as well as come from someone that has the “capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others.”

Foucault himself said in an interview with Lucette Finas that at one time he “accepted the traditional conception of power as an essentially judicial mechanism, as that which lays down the law, which prohibits, which refuses and which has a whole range of negative effects: exclusion, rejection, denial, obstruction, occulation, etc.” Later he revised his own definition of power to incorporate the kinds of power woven into our everyday lives and discourses. “The question of power needed to be formulated not so much in terms of justice“ but in terms “of technology, of tactics and strategy.” (Foucault, Power/Knowledge)

Works Cited

Fillingham, Lydia Alix. Foucault for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., 1993.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.