SOCI 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Michel Foucault, Blogosphere, White Privilege
13 Jun 2018
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Post-Structuralism
Post-structuralists challenge the Enlightenment view that scientific knowledge is the
key to freedom.
Rather, post-structuralists argue that all knowledge is situated within power relations.
Therefore, to understand our world we need to appreciate that knowledge is socially
produced and constructed.
Michael Foucault (1926-1984) challenges Marxist views of power as being absolute, he
suggests power is created in social relationships
•Foucault saw that people possess agency.
Foucault saw that people possess:
•agency- the capacity for self-directed action that suggests we can all resist
power.
Further, knowledge is related to power, since it is often specialized and unquestioned
(e.g., medical doctors, sociology professors).
For Foucault, when truth and facts come together they exist in a discourse that
situates the social experience (e.g., how many question their doctors/professors?).
•Surveillance are acts of monitoring, recording, training, that are based on
power. E.g., the assignment/grades for this class- what do they really teach
us?
•as you internalize these rules and live by them, you experience normalization-
Foucault’s concept whereby some practices are defined as normal and other
abnormal.
•For Foucault, resistance to power does not have to end in social revolution,
but rather, may occur through multiple sites from within the system. (Consider
the emerging role of the blogosphere.)
Queer Theory
Queer theory emerged during the 1960’s when a rift emerged between feminist
heterosexual and lesbian women.
•The liberal humanist assumption- that everyone should be treated equally as
human beings was challenged by Queer theorists who argued against sameness.
•Instead, social justice and equity should be based on our differences.
Queer theory focuses on 3 main concepts:
Desire, language, and identity.
Desire:
•Attempt to expand attraction beyond simple binaries and allow a greater
expression of human diversity.
Language:
•Since language is the vehicle of knowledge, there is no way to separate it from
power. E.g., “normal” vs. “abnormal”.
Identity:
•Our sense of self, in one way or another queer theorists assert, are social
constructions that are fluid and multiple.
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