Brindon Udomratanavasi
April 11, 2014
Sociology 385
Foucault Blog
Power and Spring Break
Its 2011, spring semester of my freshmen year at college. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, a few friends and I decided to do what every college student seems to do for spring break. Road trip. Not just any old road trip though, we were going to the mecca of spring break... Panama City Beach. We didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into, but we were sure it was going to unforgettable. Regarding that last part, we couldn’t have been more wrong. We spent six days and five nights living the college dream. For breakfast we had beer bongs, lunch was typically more beer bongs, and we honestly didn’t see much of dinner. PCB was like an entirely different world. Things that would normally get you arrested were being done by massive crowds. It was as if all rules were thrown out the window. One week and one $300 drinking ticket later (most expensive 4loko in my life), and the only thing that really stayed with me was the conversation I had with a police officer. I had asked the police officer how many drinking tickets he gave out in a day. He said that things get so out of hand that Panama City P.D. usually has to call in police officers from the surrounding areas as backup. Really? College kids, more than likely all adults, get so extremely out of hand that major backup is required? I believe that this increase in police presence provides a good example for Foucault’s theory of power.
Foucault theorized two different forms of power: regulatory and disciplinary. Regulatory power involves direct force and control; think police herding people through the streets or arresting those who are too out of control. Disciplinary power is self-policing; think laying on the beach and not bonging beers and/or vomiting, out of fear or knowledge that there will be repercussions (Foucault). Regulatory power would theoretically evolve into disciplinary power. After enough force or physical threat, people sort of start to get the picture. They start behaving in accordance to the rules without having a presence there to enforce them. Foucault believed that society was evolving into a disciplinary, self-policing, state. Then how you do explain all the shenanigans of college spring break?
I have provided two video links below. Please excuse the FoxNews and Hannity. The first is a segment done on spring break at PCB. The first interview pretty much sums it up, “We’re here to get f**ked up!”(Fox News). The reporter continues to ask random people, and continues to get essentially the same response. The second video, around the 2:15 minute mark, has Hannity asking the police chief how he deals with the influx of raging college students. He mentions that he calls in police officers from four different police forces.(Fox News) I believe this is displays a shift in power, made necessary by the breakdown of behavioral norms.
The increase in police presence that the police chief mentioned is a shift to regulatory power. They are creating visible and apparent force. In theory, you’re less likely to commit a crime if you’re in front of a police officer. They create a larger physical presence to dominate the crowds of spring breakers. For there to be power, there has to be subjugation. Therefore the spring breakers, or the subjugated, experience a shift as well. They go from self-policing bodies at home or else where, to mobs and herds being corralled by police. In a way, there actions cause them to lose the ability to experience disciplinary power. By blatantly ignoring the law and choosing not to self-police, they require the shift back to regulatory power once more.
Foucault believed that society was evolving towards disciplinary power. I couldn’t agree more, but Spring Break and the mad house that is Panama City Beach show otherwise. There is a blatant disregard for the law. People who are presumably otherwise normal “upstanding” citizens become drunken train wrecks. This shift in behavior rightfully calls for a shift in power as well. Those in power have to ensure that the system is maintained, and order is kept. I believe this is a temporary shift, but the lengthy period of time that this involves raises many other questions. Do the policing tactics change as well? Also, would you see this shift in other holidays or festivals? Food for though.
Please excuse the Hannity and FoxNews (NSFW)
Fox News: Spring Break http://video.foxnews.com/v/3416128170001/a-shocking-look-at-spring-break-2014-/#sp=show-clips
Fox News: Police Chief interview http://video.foxnews.com/v/3432366204001/spring-break-exposed-panama-city-beach-officials-respond/#sp=show-clips
Foucault, Michel. [1975] 1995. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage. Selections: “Docile Bodies” (135-169); “Panopticism” (195-228).
April 11, 2014
Sociology 385
Foucault Blog
Power and Spring Break
Its 2011, spring semester of my freshmen year at college. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, a few friends and I decided to do what every college student seems to do for spring break. Road trip. Not just any old road trip though, we were going to the mecca of spring break... Panama City Beach. We didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into, but we were sure it was going to unforgettable. Regarding that last part, we couldn’t have been more wrong. We spent six days and five nights living the college dream. For breakfast we had beer bongs, lunch was typically more beer bongs, and we honestly didn’t see much of dinner. PCB was like an entirely different world. Things that would normally get you arrested were being done by massive crowds. It was as if all rules were thrown out the window. One week and one $300 drinking ticket later (most expensive 4loko in my life), and the only thing that really stayed with me was the conversation I had with a police officer. I had asked the police officer how many drinking tickets he gave out in a day. He said that things get so out of hand that Panama City P.D. usually has to call in police officers from the surrounding areas as backup. Really? College kids, more than likely all adults, get so extremely out of hand that major backup is required? I believe that this increase in police presence provides a good example for Foucault’s theory of power.
Foucault theorized two different forms of power: regulatory and disciplinary. Regulatory power involves direct force and control; think police herding people through the streets or arresting those who are too out of control. Disciplinary power is self-policing; think laying on the beach and not bonging beers and/or vomiting, out of fear or knowledge that there will be repercussions (Foucault). Regulatory power would theoretically evolve into disciplinary power. After enough force or physical threat, people sort of start to get the picture. They start behaving in accordance to the rules without having a presence there to enforce them. Foucault believed that society was evolving into a disciplinary, self-policing, state. Then how you do explain all the shenanigans of college spring break?
I have provided two video links below. Please excuse the FoxNews and Hannity. The first is a segment done on spring break at PCB. The first interview pretty much sums it up, “We’re here to get f**ked up!”(Fox News). The reporter continues to ask random people, and continues to get essentially the same response. The second video, around the 2:15 minute mark, has Hannity asking the police chief how he deals with the influx of raging college students. He mentions that he calls in police officers from four different police forces.(Fox News) I believe this is displays a shift in power, made necessary by the breakdown of behavioral norms.
The increase in police presence that the police chief mentioned is a shift to regulatory power. They are creating visible and apparent force. In theory, you’re less likely to commit a crime if you’re in front of a police officer. They create a larger physical presence to dominate the crowds of spring breakers. For there to be power, there has to be subjugation. Therefore the spring breakers, or the subjugated, experience a shift as well. They go from self-policing bodies at home or else where, to mobs and herds being corralled by police. In a way, there actions cause them to lose the ability to experience disciplinary power. By blatantly ignoring the law and choosing not to self-police, they require the shift back to regulatory power once more.
Foucault believed that society was evolving towards disciplinary power. I couldn’t agree more, but Spring Break and the mad house that is Panama City Beach show otherwise. There is a blatant disregard for the law. People who are presumably otherwise normal “upstanding” citizens become drunken train wrecks. This shift in behavior rightfully calls for a shift in power as well. Those in power have to ensure that the system is maintained, and order is kept. I believe this is a temporary shift, but the lengthy period of time that this involves raises many other questions. Do the policing tactics change as well? Also, would you see this shift in other holidays or festivals? Food for though.
Please excuse the Hannity and FoxNews (NSFW)
Fox News: Spring Break http://video.foxnews.com/v/3416128170001/a-shocking-look-at-spring-break-2014-/#sp=show-clips
Fox News: Police Chief interview http://video.foxnews.com/v/3432366204001/spring-break-exposed-panama-city-beach-officials-respond/#sp=show-clips
Foucault, Michel. [1975] 1995. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage. Selections: “Docile Bodies” (135-169); “Panopticism” (195-228).