Foucault Power

“Doomed from day one” is what many people said about Westray coal mining which began moving into Pictou County, Nova Scotia in the fall of 1991. With the economy suffering and no stable jobs in that area, it was nearly impossible for many of the men to refuse joining Westray’s dangerous working environment because of the promise they made to provide 15 years of prosperity. However, within the first month of production there had been three major rock falls, yet with no other means to provide for their family the men of Westray continued to trudge underground day after day. Furthermore, not only was coal dusk threatening these men’s physical health but with a concentration of 5% to 15% of methane in the tunnels combined with coal dusk even a

Similar to Marx, Foucault believed the state’s role was to use its power as violence as a means of social control over the population. Furthermore, his theory better examines modern power as it states, modern power can be understood as techniques rather than rights, modern power works by normalization instead of law, and modern power works to control the population rather than punish them. Furthermore, with advancements in technology and science, truth and knowledge could only be accepted and understood if it met the scientific criteria which was only accessible to few. In terms of Westray, the power was imposed on the workers by people like Clifford Fran and the managers who simply wanted to control their workers and normalized the work they were doing even though it was unsafe. Furthermore, even though Foucault does not address workers experience and disqualifies their voice, this is what happened to the Westray miners because they were aware that their working conditions were unsafe and that it was tremendously affecting their health but because they were not considered experts their knowledge was ignored. Additionally, the knowledge was accepted by Albert Maclean, who was an inspector, even though he had never worked in a mine before and told workers that even with the examples of unsafe working conditions they provided him he was not able to shut down the mine, which was