Michel Foucault was a sociologist who theorized about power and discipline. Power, according to Foucault, is permanent, power is not an institution, power is relative in multiple social relations, it’s not simple domination, power is shown by net like organizations, and power is omnipresent. Throughout his work he believed that there are two types of power: disciplinary power and regulatory power. Disciplinary power can be described as a more of a self policing power; while regulatory power is getting people to do something by force.
Some believe that disciplinary power is “better” and more effective than regulatory power, but I believe that a society can not have one without the other. Take for example, children entering the kindergarten for the first time. On a child’s first day of school, he/she does not know what to do or how to behave. Yes, a child may have learned some sort of rules from home, but the ends and outs of how things run at school may be totally different. As a child enters the school on the first day, he/she is told to/forced to do certain things. The child may have to hang his/she coat in a locker and sit at circle time; or sign in then hang a coat up then wash their hands for breakfast. Whatever the routine is the child must learn it, and learn it quickly or gets notes constantly sent home for not following the rules or be forced to possible leave the school (in an extreme case). Because of the forced actions put on a child through, regulatory power, a child thus learns how to operate the classroom and therefore is able to have disciplianry power over one’s self.
Foucault also had other forms of ideas regarding power and discipline. Foucault believed that “discipline proceeds from the art of individuals in space” (pg 141), thus called the Arts of Distribution. Within the art of distribution, there are four elements: enclosure, participation of space, functional sites and that the place and time define relationships. Enclosure can be described as the space and boundaries. Participation of space is how the bounder are drawn, functional sites are the bodies and the space needed to match and place define by relationship is nothing more than rank.
When this comes to my mind I think of the movie “Speak”. In Speak, there is a teenage girl, who is basically the outcast of the entire school because of something that she did at a party at the end of junior high. The girl went on to high school but people in the school still teased her about the event that occur. This reminds me of the art of distribution because within high school, there are powers put into place by the student body. Within the movie, enclosure, was shown through the other students forming click and groups amongst each other. Participation of the space was shown through who got selected to be in the group, more money meant more power, typically. The creation of space was shown through who got the opportunity to sit at what table for lunch and place define by relationship was shown through who was more powerful and popular in high school.
In my opinion, I feel that power and how has it is something that everyday people can not control. People do not normally have regulatory power, it was shown and forced upon us by the schools, our parents, and society in general. Ultimately, no one is able to regulate themselves completely, no one is control of themselves because we are always following behind someone who said something, and thats okay, it;’s a part of life. The art of distribution is needed because it provides people a break down of how and why people are in power and others are not. The art of distribution is something that very few people understand and that most don’t know that exist. People constantly think that they are in control of power through, voting for example, but that’s not true. Regulatory power will always exist because of the fact that people can not function without disciplinary power which ultimately turns in regulatory power, or the norms.
Some believe that disciplinary power is “better” and more effective than regulatory power, but I believe that a society can not have one without the other. Take for example, children entering the kindergarten for the first time. On a child’s first day of school, he/she does not know what to do or how to behave. Yes, a child may have learned some sort of rules from home, but the ends and outs of how things run at school may be totally different. As a child enters the school on the first day, he/she is told to/forced to do certain things. The child may have to hang his/she coat in a locker and sit at circle time; or sign in then hang a coat up then wash their hands for breakfast. Whatever the routine is the child must learn it, and learn it quickly or gets notes constantly sent home for not following the rules or be forced to possible leave the school (in an extreme case). Because of the forced actions put on a child through, regulatory power, a child thus learns how to operate the classroom and therefore is able to have disciplianry power over one’s self.
Foucault also had other forms of ideas regarding power and discipline. Foucault believed that “discipline proceeds from the art of individuals in space” (pg 141), thus called the Arts of Distribution. Within the art of distribution, there are four elements: enclosure, participation of space, functional sites and that the place and time define relationships. Enclosure can be described as the space and boundaries. Participation of space is how the bounder are drawn, functional sites are the bodies and the space needed to match and place define by relationship is nothing more than rank.
When this comes to my mind I think of the movie “Speak”. In Speak, there is a teenage girl, who is basically the outcast of the entire school because of something that she did at a party at the end of junior high. The girl went on to high school but people in the school still teased her about the event that occur. This reminds me of the art of distribution because within high school, there are powers put into place by the student body. Within the movie, enclosure, was shown through the other students forming click and groups amongst each other. Participation of the space was shown through who got selected to be in the group, more money meant more power, typically. The creation of space was shown through who got the opportunity to sit at what table for lunch and place define by relationship was shown through who was more powerful and popular in high school.
In my opinion, I feel that power and how has it is something that everyday people can not control. People do not normally have regulatory power, it was shown and forced upon us by the schools, our parents, and society in general. Ultimately, no one is able to regulate themselves completely, no one is control of themselves because we are always following behind someone who said something, and thats okay, it;’s a part of life. The art of distribution is needed because it provides people a break down of how and why people are in power and others are not. The art of distribution is something that very few people understand and that most don’t know that exist. People constantly think that they are in control of power through, voting for example, but that’s not true. Regulatory power will always exist because of the fact that people can not function without disciplinary power which ultimately turns in regulatory power, or the norms.