SOCIAL THEORY POWER Vaughn Tan .

SOCIAL THEORYPOWER

Vaughn Tan

http://bit.ly/soc97

1. What are the main differences between the three views of power Lukes proposes?

2. How has power use changed over time?

3. How does power work/how is power used?

Three views of power

1. One-dimensional (Lukes 16)2. Two-dimensional (Lukes 20)3. Three-dimensional (Lukes 25)

› A affects B › obvious /non-

obvious› conscious/

unconscious› significant/

insignificant› legitimate/

illegitimate› action/inaction

› A makes B do what he normally wouldn’t› A alone is

sufficient› A with other

sufficients

› A affects B › obvious ways/non-obvious› conscious/unconscious› significant/insignificant› legitimate/illegitimate› action/inaction

context and value dependency

› Dependent on systems of values (30)› Potentiality (69)› Scope and significance (72)

“the power of the powerful is to be viewed as ranging across issues and contexts, as extending to some unintended consequences and as capable of being effective even without active intervention” (Lukes 86).

“The self, as that which can be an object in itself, is essentially a social structure, and it arises in social experience” (Mead 473).

“The ‘I’ is the response of the organism to the attitudes of the others; the ‘me’ is the organized set of attitudes of others which one himself assumes. The attitudes of the others constitute the organized ‘me,’ and then one reacts toward that as an ‘I’” (Mead 475).

› Freedom (Lukes 114)› minimal view› expanded views

› Masking resistance to power› Scott and the farting peasant (Lukes 133)

› Internalization of power relations (adaptation)› Indian widows (Nussbaum, in Lukes 119)› Gender normativity (Butler)

› Power in relationships between entities› Power and knowledge are related› Power has a range of manifestations› Power and domination› Real interests result from system of

values

› Context› Power is multidirectional› Evolution of use of power (Foucault 192)

› deductive and subtractive› positive and formative

› Evolution of means of exercise (Foucault 196)› punitive law› restitutive law

› Symbols vs objects

› Power as a relational thing that only becomes visible in use.

› Separating the concrete nature of power in use from the concept of power (Foucault 198).› constitution and legitimacy› state apparatus

› Expanding idea of power out of the state and into social relations generally (Foucault 205).

› Power is not just repressive/subtractive but also productive/constructive (Foucault 203).

› Seeking to do … what?› “a matter of obtaining productive service

from individuals in their concrete lives” (Foucault 206).

“What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn’t only weigh on us as a force that says no, but that it traverses and produces things, it induces pleasure, forms knowledge, produces discourse” (Foucault 203)

“Even after he learns the proper smoking technique, the new user may not get high and thus not form a conception of the drug as something which can be used for pleasure … What does this mean? It suggests that being high consists of two elements: the presence of symptoms caused by marihuana use and the recognition of these symptoms and their connection by the user with his use of the drug” (Becker 238).

› Power is not just repressive/subtractive but also productive/constructive (Foucault 203).

› Seeking to do … what?› “a matter of obtaining productive service

from individuals in their concrete lives” (Foucault 206).

› Power, knowledge, truth

“What is taken for granted as knowledge in the society comes to be coextensive with the knowable, or at any rate provides the framework within which anything not yet known will come to be known in the future” (Berger and Luckmann 51).

› Surveillance and knowledge of surveillance by those surveilled (Foucault 210).

› Surveillance and knowledge of surveillance by those surveilled (Foucault 210).

› Discipline in its ideal typical form is …?› Emergence of the disciplinary society?

› economic› juridico-political› scientific

“Discipline fixes; it arrests or regulates movements; it clears up confusion; it dissipates compact groupings of individuals wandering about the country in unpredictable ways; it establishes calculated distributions” (Foucault 213)

› Surveillance and knowledge of surveillance by those surveilled (Foucault 210).

› Discipline in its ideal typical form is …?› Emergence of the disciplinary society?

› economic› juridico-political› scientific

“its universally widespread panopticism enables it to operate, on the underside of the law, a machinery that is both immense and minute, which supports, reinforces, multiples the asymmetry of power and undermines the limits that are traced around the law” (Foucault 215)

“the codified power to punish turns into a disciplinary power to observe; at the point where the universal punishments of the law are applied selectively to certain individuals and always the same ones; at a point where the redefinition of the juridical subject by the penalty becomes a useful training for the individual … where the counter-law becomes the effective and institutionalized content of the juridical forms” (Foucault 215).

Identity (in what sense?) defines the body (in what sense?)

“acts, gestures and desire produce the effect of an internal core of substance, but produce this on the surface of the body, through the play of signifying absences that suggest, but never reveal, the organising principle of identity as a cause … [these are] performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and other discursive means” (Butler 173).

“If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders can be neither true nor false, but are only produced as the truth effects of a discourse of primary and stable identity” (Butler 174).

“If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders can be neither true nor false, but are only produced as the truth effects of a discourse of primary and stable identity” (Butler 174).

CLASSICAL THEORY PAPER

Problems

› Discussing only two theorists› No arguments or weak arguments› Argument difficult to find› Theorists misinterpreted› Phenomenon not described in enough

detail› Evidence not given

Repetition ≠ argument ≠ explanation.

1. Decide what you need as context for discussion

2. Present it up front3. Move on

Just say it:

“In this paper I will show that there is a pattern in child abuse demographics and explain it using Durkheim’s theory of social facts.”

“In this paper I will show that wealthy, well-educated first-generation immigrant Chinese parents from cosmopolitan coastal cities are by far the most likely to abuse their children. Drawing on Durkheim’s conception of social facts as norms with coercive power external to the individual, I argue that this phenomenon is best explained by the particular child-rearing norms that are taken for granted among these communities.”

Understand your theorists

Social facts ≠ signals of social facts

Look for patterns in the individual’s behaviorLook for causes of this outside the individual, that affect the individual

The essential thing is not to express with some precision what the average intelligence terms suicide, but to establish a category of objects permitting this classification, which are objectively established, that is, correspond to a definite aspect of things (42).

Since [social] practices are merely social life consolidated, it is legitimate … to study the latter through the former (ED66).

Understand your theorists

Social facts ≠ signals of social facts

Look for patterns in the individual’s behaviorLook for causes of this outside the individual, that affect the individual

FINAL PAPER

› 30% of grade.› Due May 5, 5pm by email AND

hardcopy.› 1/3 grade penalty for every day late, or

part thereof. 10min late = 24h late = 1/3 grade.

A 10-12 page essay in which you

(1) apply the ideas of one contemporary theorist to an important sociological phenomenon, problem, or issue;

(2) contrast your theorist of choice to the others (i.e. other contemporary theorists we have considered in the course); and

(3) present an argument for why your theorist offers the best understanding.

Your argument should be supported with evidence from the writings of the theorist you have chosen. You may use the same phenomenon from your classical theory paper.

Phenomenon

› A topic is not a phenomenon› A phenomenon must be clear and

specific

› This is for your benefit

White people in America love dinner parties.White people in big cities hold more dinner parties than white people in small cities or rural environments.White non-immigrants hold more dinner parties than white immigrants, holding income, education level, and socioeconomic background equal.

Thesis

› Contains three things. What are they?1. Argument (includes brief description of

phenomenon)2. Plan of paper (how the argument will be

made)3. Evidence that will be used

Argument

› An argument is not › a fact› an opinion

› How do you check if you have a real argument?› plausible counterargument

How to write this paper

1. Find your phenomenon. Make it something you might have fun writing about. Sociology is everywhere.

2. Sit down with a sheet of paper and choose three theorists, then write down› which parts of their theory are applicable to the

phenomenon› what they would say about the phenomenon.

3. Write your thesis. You may run it by me by email.

4. Write the essay.