Lecture 8: Foucault Flashcards
1
Q
law, legitimacy, and enforcement
A
- Law can be narrowly defined as formal, legislated rules or more broadly to include other normative orders
- For law to be socially valid, it must be both legitimate (accepted by a community) and legal (enacted/administered properly and upheld)
2
Q
Weber’s contribution to law, legitimacy, and enforcement
A
- Highlighted the importance of legality in defining law
- Distinguished between law and extra-legal normativity (custom and convention)
3
Q
enforcement & compliance
A
- Any normative order must have mechanisms for ensuring compliance
- Enforcement ranges from informal (social expectations, disapproval, shame) to formal (police, surveillance, punishment)
4
Q
law & control
A
- Systems of control are essential for securing obedience to norms
- Law inherently faces the problem of enforcement: how to ensure compliance effectively
5
Q
modern sociology & law enforcement
A
- Law enforcement is primarily studied within the sociology of social control rather than the sociology of law today
- In recent years, social control has been linked to more crime and deviance than legal structures
6
Q
historical vs. contemporary perspectives on social control
A
- Originally, social control had a broader meaning beyond crime and deviance
- Early sociologists linked social control more closely to law, rather than limiting it to criminal justice
7
Q
criminology’s role in separating crime from the sociology of law
A
- The separation of crime/deviance from the sociology of law is due to historical rather than the theoretical reasons
- Criminology emerged as a technology of crime control tied to the criminal justice system
8
Q
contemporary implications of social control
A
- Modern sociology of social control is not easily placed within the sociology of law institutionally
- However, the sociology of law still conceptually includes aspects of social control
9
Q
Post-World War ll Shift in Social Control Theory
A
- The pre-war consensual society model became difficult to sustain due to fascism, Nazism, and Cold War tensions
- Social control came to be understood as repressive and coercive rather than just socialization into norms
10
Q
coercive social control & power
A
- Control was now seen as based on power and force rather than voluntary norm adherence
- Social institutions, often viewed as benign, were recognized as mechanisms of control
11
Q
Piven & Cloward’s contribution: Regulating the Poor (1971)
A
- Argued that welfare functions as a tool of social control
- Welfare pacifies the poor and unemployed, preventing rebellion
- Key idea: assistance programs are not purely benevolent but serve to maintain existing power strategies
12
Q
Expanding the perspectives of social control:
A
- The physically and mentally ill (institutionalization, medicalization)
- Youth and elderly (age-based control mechanisms)
- Deviants (criminalization, surveillance, punitive responses)
13
Q
Shift in social control conceptualization (post-1950s)
A
- Social control became more distinctly linked to mechanisms and institutions that define and respond to crime and deviance
- Previously broad definitions of social control narrowed, aligning more with criminology
14
Q
Three main conceptual approaches to criminological sociology
A
- Functional response to crime: views social control as a necessary mechanisms to maintain order and safety
- Societal reaction to deviance: emphasizes how society labels and responds to deviant behaviour (ex. Labelling theory)
- Reproduction of social order: goes beyond crime, focusing on how institutions reinforce existing power structures and norms
15
Q
Michel Foucault
A
- French philosopher, historian, and social theorist
- Focused on power, knowledge, and social institutions
- Influenced by structuralism and post-structuralism
16
Q
Foucault’s major works
A
- Discipline & Punish (1975): Explores how modern institutions use disciplinary power (ex. prisons, schools, military) to regulate behavior
- The Birth of the Clinic (1963): Examines the rise of medical institutions and how power shapes knowledge in medicine
- The History of Sexuality (1976–1984): Introduces biopolitics, explaining how power controls bodies and populations through discourse
- Madness and Civilization (1961): Investigates the historical treatment of mental illness and how society defines “madness”
17
Q
Foucault’s death
A
- Died in 1984 due to AIDS-related illness, one of the first prominent figures in France to die from it
- His partner, Daniel Defert, later founded AIDES, an HIV/AIDS awareness organization
18
Q
foucault’s impact
A
- Influenced sociology of social control
- Examined power, punishment, and surveillance
19
Q
transformation of punishment
A
- Shift from public, violent punishment (inflicting pain on the body)
- Emergence of surveillance-based discipline (control over the soul)
- Development of the modern prison system as a key mechanism of control
20
Q
Foucault’s conception of power
A
- Critiques of the political economy of power (top-down, state-centred)
- Introduces micro-physics of power: focuses on strategies, tactics, and techniques
- Empashzeis how power operates through institutions, norms, and surveillance
21
Q
Historical shift in punishment (18th-19th century)
A
- Public executions and torture gradually disappeared
- Punishment became hidden, detailed, and regulated
22
Q
Transformation of power and punishment
A
- 18th century: public torture as a spectacle of sovereign power
- 19th century: shift to prison timetables and disciplinary surveillance
- Change was not humanization, but a new form of control
23
Q
Power & surveillance of the soul
A
- Torture reinforced the monarch’s authority through bodily punishment
- Disappearance of torture led to more efficient control over individuals
- Reformers promoted leniency but only as a more effective technology of power
24
Q
Modern prison as a tool of discipline
A
- Not just detention but a site of correction and reeducation
- Punishment became calculated, structured, and aimed at shaping behaviour
25
Q
Discipline as a new form of power
A
- Emerged with the shift from torture to prisons
- Aims to create docile bodies by shaping and training individuals to obey
26
Q
Four techniques of disciplinary power
A
- Spatial distribution of bodies: enclosures, partitioning, and functional placement
- Control of activities: strict timetables regulating actions
- Organization of actions over time: sequencing tasks for efficiency
- Composition of forces: individuals function within a larger machine of efficiency
27
Q
Three techniques of correct training
A
- Hierarchical observation: surveillance makes individuals visible and controllable
- Normalizing judgment: deviance is correct through training, not pain
- Examination: discipline produces knowledge that reforms individuals
28
Q
Panopticon as the ultimate expression of discipline
A
- Developed by Jeremy Bentham as a prison design for efficient surveillance
- Circular structure with individual cells, each visible to a central observer
- Prisoners cannot see the observer, making surveillance unverifiable but constant
29
Q
Effects of panoptic surveillance
A
- Creates self-discipline: prisoners regulate their own behaviour out of fear of being watched
- Punished shifts from physical force to psychological control
- Produces docile and useful bodies through isolation, work, and gradual correction
30
Q
Panopticism as a generalized function in society
A
- Discipline extends beyond prisons into institutions like hospitals, factories, and asylums
- Human sciences justify and sustain discipline
31
Q
hierarchy of discpline
A
- Disciplinary power is not hierarchical:
- Power is diffused across society, not just between rulers and ruled
- Everyone is made visible and subject to surveillance
- Discipline functions as an impersonal, non-discriminating machine
32
Q
disciplinary power as productive
A
- Unlike traditional power, discipline shapes behaviour positively
- Law is typically seen as a prohibitive rule, while discipline works by training individuals to obedience
33
Q
Modern society as disciplinary, but not fully disciplined
A
- Elements of traditional power still exist alongside disciplinary mechanisms
- Resistance to discipline is always present, limiting its totalizing effects
34
Q
Governmentality
A
concept of how the state manages populations through institutions, norms, and knowledge production
35
Q
power & governmentality
A
- Power operates through individuals, not just over them
- Focuses on managing populations rather than just punishing crime
- Originated in 16th-century European political thought, where the state’s wealth and power were tied to the condition of the population
36
Q
Shift from legalistic power to governmentality
A
- Power no longer targets territorially defined nation-states but instead manages populations
- Focuses on fertility, health, and movement rather than enforcing laws from a sovereign
- Norms are based on what is useful or harmful to society, not just legal authority
37
Q
Role of knowledge in governmentality
A
- Power requires knowledge systems to monitor and manage populations
- Criminology emerges as a tool to study criminals’ lives and social patterns
- Criminal statistics reveal trends in crime and identify risk factors for deviance
38
Q
The triple alliance of governmentality
A
- Knowledge systems: criminology, statistics, and social sciences help define and predict behaviour
- Norms & regulation: what benefits or harms society replaces strict legal enforcement
- Police as a broad system of order & security: not just law enforcement but a mechanism for maintaining social order
