Qn. 17: Comment: “Power flows through the system like blood in the capillaries of our body.” (Foucault) (2010/I/1a/20)
The statement that power flows like blood in our body, was made by Paul-Michel Foucault the French postmodernist philosopher, to explain his theory that ‘power is everywhere’, diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of truth’.
Foucault projects power as a kind of ‘metapower’ or ‘regime of truth’ that pervades society. This ‘regime’ is in constant flux and negotiation. He indicated that power is constituted through accepted knowledge, scientific understanding and ‘truth’. ‘Regimes of Truth’ are the outcome of discourse and institutions. The regimes are reinforced and modified by components of society, viz. education system, media and ideologies. As per Hayward, Power is boundaries that enable and constrain possibilities. Similar to varied functions of blood. He perceived power as dispersed and pervasive, as blood is, in our body. Foucault challenges the idea that power is wielded by ‘episodic’ or ‘sovereign’ acts of domination or coercion, by individuals or groups, as in traditional feudal states. He recognises that power is not just negative, coercive or repressive, but also a necessary, productive and positive force in society.
According to Foucault, “Power produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth.” Just like blood plays a part in control of the body, power is also a major source of social discipline and conformity. It could be observed in the systems of surveillance and assessment such as administrative systems and social services (such as prisons, schools and mental hospitals). Where people learned to discipline themselves. It also manifested in the promotion of norms about conduct. Foucault studied psychology, medicine and criminology and their roles as the knowledge that define norms. He called social control of the population as ‘bio-power’. Bio-power creates a ‘discursive practice’ or a body of knowledge and behaviour that defines what is normal, acceptable, deviant, etc. But the practice is also in constant flux.
Foucault believed in possibilities for action and resistance, who saw a role for the ‘organic intellectual’ to recognise and question socialised norms and constraints. ‘Discourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart’.
For Foucault, power is what makes us what we are. His approach is that power transcends politics and is an everyday, socialised and embodied phenomenon. For some, Foucault’s theory has little scope for practical action. But he influenced recognition of embedded norms, which discipline us, without any perceived coercion. His approach has been widely used to critique the ways in which development discourses are imbued with power.