Power, Discourse and Post Modernism

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. Power, discourse and post modernism are key to cultural studies due to the fact that they create and construct cultural and social realities, as well as they construct and produce the identities of the subjects within these realities. Power and discourse dictate what is possible and what is not as well as they endeavour to restrict the movement of individual agents by making them adhere to norms and standards this directly contradicts discourses pertaining to freedom. When regarding this as a certain truth within reality one must question whether individuals are merely subjects of power and discourse, or whether they are agents of it, as well as whether individuals can empower themselves within such a system. This essay will attempt to answer these questions, by utilizing the terms of power, discourse and postmodernism. The concept of power from the standpoint of cultural studies and in particular this course is annexed from its conventionally assumed meaning, which pertains to the top down power model whereby, one or a very small set of individuals set out to seize power and exercise it as a singular force over the masses from a position of exteriority. However in the context of cultural studies power is re-contextualised through a number of postmodern discourses which seek to resist the dominant discourses, which claim that power is in fact mediated from above (Enthler N, 2013, week 3). Power from a postmodernist standpoint is exercised from innumerable points within society and acts more like a network which heralds multifaceted interdependencies between individuals, than a structure which exerts power over the powerless (Focault M, 1989). Power is posited by cultural studies to be both productive and reproductive rather t... ... middle of paper ... ...t Leonard Nsw, Allent urwin pp:51-65. Mills S, 2004, ‘Discourse and Power’, Discourse, London &New York: Rutledge, pp 26-42. Nelson J & Giroux S, 2012, ‘Posts’ in the Theory Tool box, Critical Concepts For The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. 2ndedition Plymouth Rowar & littlefield. Pp139-159, Shneider F, 2013, Introduction to discourse and analysis, online video viewed on the 31 of march 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJhICZczUQ Stewart L, 2013, The Concept of Power, online video viewed on the 31st of March 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGtoUs3se1Q Ward G, 2011, ‘Postmodernism’, understanding post modernism a teach yourself guide, New York, Mcgraw hill, pp1-14. . Wilson ,M , 2011, Juridicial, Disciplinary and Biopolitical power :basic Background, online video, viewed on the first of march 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X31ayDsG67U

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