Foucault, Consumerism, and Identity
Michel Foucault presents those revolutionary sorts of analyses that are rich not only for their content but for their implications and novel methodological approach. Just beyond the surface of his works lies such philosophical wealth that one can be overwhelmed by considerations of which vein to mine first, and what to make of the elements therefrom extracted.
I’ve broken earth in several attractive sites this last week. Some, it seemed, hid their treasures too deep for the scope of this excavation. Some presented me with granite barriers which I do not yet have the tools to penetrate. At other sites, the earth gave way easily and I made great progress, only to be flooded out. Finally, at the fifteenth hour, I have struck something shiny.
I wish to use Foucault’s accounts of socialisation, categorisation, and discipline, as the background for my analysis of a modern entity I call the “identity package.” I will define this concept and show how it fits into and is suggested by Foucault’s works. Following this I will deal briefly with supposed problems with Foucault’s account (or lack of an account) of subjectivity.
Narrative gives coherence to a life. Particular episodes make sense in light of a uniting theme. The simplistic world view of the Middle Ages left people satisfied with fairly simple narratives. One knew their personal obligations and had a vague idea of how they fit into the systems of king and God.
For the sovereign and the elite, their special status was confirmed in ceremony and artistic representations.1[1] The masses were unrepresented. The lack of demand for empowerment or change may be partly due to the fact t...
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...of this system.
The process of categorisation seems to have an assimilative function. If you can’t beat them, label them. If it fits into our picture, it is ours. Put this way, it seems like we are imprisoned in a menacing matrix of metaphysical manipulation. However, as I have shown to be the case in pop culture, we are complicit in our captivity, in fact, all too willing to participate.
1[1]Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, tr.Alan Sheridan (New York: Vintage,1995) p.192
2[2]With an increase in bureaucracy came an increase in the importance of meticulous knowledge; with this, more power and a more distinct role for the researcher.
3[3]Modern advertising calls this “appeal to a certain demographic”.
4[4]Quoted in: Michael Clifford, Politcal Genealogy After Foucault, (New York: Routledge, 2001) p.99
Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Dante’s Inferno both exhibit Foucault’s idea of categorization and subjectification using “dividing practices.” (Rabinow 8) Foucault argued that people can rise to power using discourse, “Discourse has the ability to turn human beings into subjects by placing them into certain categories.” (Rabinow 8) These categories are then defined “according to their level of deviance from the acceptable norm.” (Rabinow 8) Some examples of such categories are the homosexual, the insane, the criminal and the uncivilized. (Rabinow 8). By the above method, called “dividing practices,” people can be manipulated by socially categorizing them and then comparing them to norms. In this way human beings are given both a social and a personal identity (Rabinow 8) and this is how superiority among human beings can be established.
Snow, David. “Collective Identity and Expressive Forms.” University of California, Irvine eScholarship Repository 26.7 (2009) . Print.
1. Growing up we all heard stories. Different types of stories, some so realistic, we cling onto them farther into our lives. Stories let us see and even feel the world in different prespectives, and this is becuase of the writter or story teller. We learn, survive and entertain our selves using past experiences, which are in present shared as stories. This is why Roger Rosenblatt said, "We are a narrative species."
Identity is an important theme in many stories. Especially in the The Outsiders, Eleanor and Park, and“Flowers for Algernon.” In The Outsiders identity is tied heavily to which gang a person belongs to. In the novel, Eleanor and Park, identity is portrayed through gender and race. Also, in the short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” the main character identifies with his level of intelligence. Although, one common trend expressed is how jubilance is felt when the characters are free of how they are told they should identify. I will be analysing identity in these stories is represented through the characters, and how this proves how easily the characters find identify in themselves when they detach how they are to identify by society.
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matter. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question of identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail, and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism. Problems of personal identity generally involve questions about what makes one the person one is and what it takes for the same person to exist at separate times (Olson, 2010).
SAINATI, TATIANA E. "Toward A Comparative Approach To The Crime Of Genocide." Duke Law Journal 62.1 (2012): 161-202. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
Back some couple centuries ago, genocide committed by states was seen as heroic, as they were allowed to commit such an atrocity in pursuit of building a larger empire (Lecture 9/18). Keep in mind, that the term “genocide” had not been officially defined by that time, thus not containing the same meaning as it does today. Instead of being seen as evil, states that committed genocide were seen as heroic. In-fact, William Blackstone once said “the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principal of the English constitution (Lecture 9/18). It wasn’t until 1948, that the term “genocide” had been officially labeled as an official term and international crime. This was declared by the United Nations. One of the first trials to occur due to this was the Nuremberg Trials. In the Nuremberg Trials, twenty-four Nazi leaders and six Nazi organizations were convicted on four counts (Lecture 9/18). Of those twenty-four convicted, twelve of those people were sentenced to the death penalty for the crimes they had committed. Fast-forwarding to the 90’s, 120 countries had signed an international treaty that established the International Court. The International Court was established in 1998 as a result of the treaty and it gave the ICC the jurisdiction to prosecute any related Genocide crimes (History.com). Before I move on
7. la Tournier, O. Y. ed. (1988) The Reality of Defining characteristic: Semanticist pretextual theory and cultural
This personal narrative is attained only because of the important role History plays in tying these factors together. In order for one to relate identity to difference using the dialogical method, he/she must “position [themselves] somewhere in order to say anything at all.” This position is attained through an understanding of history; a history which...
The importance of a story is to have a purpose and meaning, through this, people are able to engage and learn with what is being told to them, it has to have a connection to the past, bringing it to the present and to involve both the body and mind senses. Through storytelling the audience should gain an understanding and have a sense of emotion touched and come alive, they should also be able to explore the possibilities within their culture and feel a deep connection to country.
In December 1948, the then members of the United Nations General Assembly, without contention, passed the Convention on Genocide. It defined what the crime of genocide entailed and that it was an act to be prevented and its perpetrators punished. It has been 66 years since then and we have not been able to fulfill this promise - shattering its very principles time and time again - in places such as Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda or Darfur. Man - a supposedly civilized species - has not been able to resist the urge to systematically destroy the 'undesirable' members of a society. There has been and always will be characteristics which define and divide us - race, religion, caste and culture, among others. Classification is the first and ever-present stage of genocide - there will always be an "us" and a proverbial "them". Although prejudice is human nature and may be pardonable, acting upon prejudice is not.
Problems with Foucault: Historical accuracy (empiricism vs. Structuralism)-- Thought and discourse as reality? Can we derive intentions from the consequences of behavior? Is a society without social control possible?
Rodgers, W,S. (2003). Selves and Identities. In: Social Psychology: Experimental and critical approaches. Maidenhead,GB: Open University Press/McGraw Hill. 229-240.
Across cultures, continents, and worlds, the majority of things within the scope of our very own humanity can be boiled down to two things: those who are dominant, and those who get dominated. Within these statuses lie stories of power struggles, rebellion, the rising and falling of those with influence, and the interconnection between a being with power and the people under his ruling. Through the visual works catered to this subject, we will discuss themes such as the power of immortalization, divinity amongst humans, what it really means to be a ruler, and many other details making up the ever-present, multifaceted relationship between rulers and their subject. With the assistance of the Blanton Museum of Art, I will be able to showcase
“The third reason: Stories help us to see through the eyes of the other people.” - Scott Russell Sanders, The Most Human Art. In my eyes the explanation for this reason is to fathom another life other than your own. Sanders explains how a storyteller can become anyone or anything. The audience then follows in their own mind seeing through the eyes of another. It is to plunge into another's life and swim in their own waters. Every Life is so different and the most wonderful way to communicate and share a lifetime is through stories. The third reason is significant to me because you never know someone truly unless you understand their story. How ever much you might love and adore someone, you will never truly know them until you’ve swam the ocean of him or her. When you