Foucault and Power

Question 1

To Foucault, power is…

Answer 1

• Omnipresent
• Multidimensional
• Fluid
• Ineradicable
• Relational (it isn’t just top-down; it is lateral… norms keep people in check).

Question 2

Foucault and knowledge:

Answer 2

• Power intersects with knowledge (visual, audio, literature).
• The way this knowledge is reproduced is important.

Question 3

Disciplinary power:

Answer 3

• Use of surveillance.
• Difficult to ascertain who is exercising power.
• Routinised patterns of behaviour to discipline populations (power can seem invisible this way).

Question 4

Biopower:

Answer 4

• Power is applied to life and the population as a whole. E.g. controlling, sifting or managing populations.

Question 5

Governmentality (3):

Answer 5

• Neoliberal context of social work organisations.
• Power wielded by social workers.
• Best practice vs ethical practice (conflicts of interest in an agency setting).

Question 6

Power and the Social Worker (5):

Answer 6

• Power relations exist between the social worker and service user.
• Need an understanding of how power operates in practices, institutional arrangements and knowledge systems.
• Be conscious is we are contributing to oppressive discursive regimes.
• Expert power of the professional can silence, or further marginalise the already marginal.
• Anti-oppressive practice and empowerment.

Question 7

Power and resistance:

Answer 7

• Not just victims… survivors.