Michael Foucault was a French philosopher famous for his sociological approach to the relationship between power, knowledge and the body. In his work, “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” we learn of his interpretation and understanding to how we as a population and individuals are affected by the relationship of power, knowledge and body. One theory was his concept of Bio Power. This was a productive form of power that is enforced to expose the whole population to the administration of life. It is defined as set of diverse techniques to help achieve the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations. He discussed the body as an object and“target of power” and “a body is docile that may be subjected, used, transformed and improved”.
(pg. 136). It is targeted due to its ability to be molded, transformed, manipulated, trained, and
etc. On a disciplinary scale, there are several various techniques that are needed and must be exercised
continuously in order to obtain full control of the individual body. It must get to the point where that body becomes self-policing because it’s been trained so much. The techniques include the scale of control in which the body is not treated as a whole but rather as individual parts. Then, the docile body is the object of control in which it is constantly exercised enough to become habit and routine. Finally, modality calls for an uninterrupted and constant coercion that requires policing the activity rather than the results.
So, now you probably ask yourself if we are really under that much control. The answer, I think, is yes. We can be controlled not just by others but by ourselves as well. Our everyday rituals are a testimony of us controlling our body’s movement and actions. Take our morning routine. This is something that we have trained ourselves since the moment we developed our hand-eye coordination. For me, I find that every morning I need to brush my teeth, wash my face, and then take a full shower. It is something that I have always done and something that I do so routinely. There are many times I find myself in the middle of my routine not even remembering how what I already did. I’m sure there are many rituals like that that you guys can all think of for yourself.
So what is an example of disciplinary Bio Power in our lives? Take our Sociology 385 class. As a student we have been molded and manipulated from our primary schools to act in certain ways when in a classroom. When you are listening to Professor Zopf, you are (should be) watching and listening intently as he speaks and
writes on the board. When he writes, you immediately copy his notes down. This is a scale of control. We have been trained to watch and listen as a professor speaks, and we have been trained to write down whatever a professor writes on the board. We don’t have to write what he says down yet we all do it without hesitation or question. Next, what is a number one rule when a teacher is speaking? We need to raise our hands if we want to talk. Now, in a sociology class it is common for people to speak up without any hand raising, but there are still many who use their hand as request to speak. We have been taught to raise our hands and have been doing so for our entire schooling career. This is an example of our docile body as an object of control. Finally, texting in class. We were taught that it was wrong to be on our phones in class in grade school but in college, we technically don’t have to follow this rule. So we coerce ourselves to ‘secretly’ text by hiding the phone as best as we can because we know it’s wrong to do. This is policing the activity because we want to make sure the end result doesn’t end up with us getting in trouble. What are some examples you can think of for Bio Power in our lives?
--
RE:
I like the examples you provided regarding how we as students carry ourselves in
the classroom. Growing up in public schools I remember being told many times
how to react or behave in class and today as an adult remember these teachings
or norms. The example you gave about how we take notes even though technically
we do not have to made me think about how and why we do this as well as the
effects this has on us. I mean teachers taught us over the years to take notes.
However they told us this was the way to learn the material being taught and if
we did not write the information down we would not learn it. This tends to be
the case sometimes for me however I wonder if this is because I was accustomed
to “learn” this way. I personally struggle with note taking because I have a
hard time then participating in class. I seem to struggle with taking notes and
really listening to lecture. However if I skip the note taking part and only
listen and see the notes the Professor posts I can learn the material better
and participate more. The problem then comes later when I forget some of the
material and have no notes to refer back to. I think sometimes we can be
accustomed or socialized into doing things a certain way because of
disciplinary bio power affects us.
Manuel A. Beltran
(pg. 136). It is targeted due to its ability to be molded, transformed, manipulated, trained, and
etc. On a disciplinary scale, there are several various techniques that are needed and must be exercised
continuously in order to obtain full control of the individual body. It must get to the point where that body becomes self-policing because it’s been trained so much. The techniques include the scale of control in which the body is not treated as a whole but rather as individual parts. Then, the docile body is the object of control in which it is constantly exercised enough to become habit and routine. Finally, modality calls for an uninterrupted and constant coercion that requires policing the activity rather than the results.
So, now you probably ask yourself if we are really under that much control. The answer, I think, is yes. We can be controlled not just by others but by ourselves as well. Our everyday rituals are a testimony of us controlling our body’s movement and actions. Take our morning routine. This is something that we have trained ourselves since the moment we developed our hand-eye coordination. For me, I find that every morning I need to brush my teeth, wash my face, and then take a full shower. It is something that I have always done and something that I do so routinely. There are many times I find myself in the middle of my routine not even remembering how what I already did. I’m sure there are many rituals like that that you guys can all think of for yourself.
So what is an example of disciplinary Bio Power in our lives? Take our Sociology 385 class. As a student we have been molded and manipulated from our primary schools to act in certain ways when in a classroom. When you are listening to Professor Zopf, you are (should be) watching and listening intently as he speaks and
writes on the board. When he writes, you immediately copy his notes down. This is a scale of control. We have been trained to watch and listen as a professor speaks, and we have been trained to write down whatever a professor writes on the board. We don’t have to write what he says down yet we all do it without hesitation or question. Next, what is a number one rule when a teacher is speaking? We need to raise our hands if we want to talk. Now, in a sociology class it is common for people to speak up without any hand raising, but there are still many who use their hand as request to speak. We have been taught to raise our hands and have been doing so for our entire schooling career. This is an example of our docile body as an object of control. Finally, texting in class. We were taught that it was wrong to be on our phones in class in grade school but in college, we technically don’t have to follow this rule. So we coerce ourselves to ‘secretly’ text by hiding the phone as best as we can because we know it’s wrong to do. This is policing the activity because we want to make sure the end result doesn’t end up with us getting in trouble. What are some examples you can think of for Bio Power in our lives?
--
RE:
I like the examples you provided regarding how we as students carry ourselves in
the classroom. Growing up in public schools I remember being told many times
how to react or behave in class and today as an adult remember these teachings
or norms. The example you gave about how we take notes even though technically
we do not have to made me think about how and why we do this as well as the
effects this has on us. I mean teachers taught us over the years to take notes.
However they told us this was the way to learn the material being taught and if
we did not write the information down we would not learn it. This tends to be
the case sometimes for me however I wonder if this is because I was accustomed
to “learn” this way. I personally struggle with note taking because I have a
hard time then participating in class. I seem to struggle with taking notes and
really listening to lecture. However if I skip the note taking part and only
listen and see the notes the Professor posts I can learn the material better
and participate more. The problem then comes later when I forget some of the
material and have no notes to refer back to. I think sometimes we can be
accustomed or socialized into doing things a certain way because of
disciplinary bio power affects us.
Manuel A. Beltran