THE POST APPROACHES: With focus on the thoughts of Michel Foucault

SWP 331

-Announcements (exam in KHE321 B; April 25th, 8 am) -Exam review & outline? -Open class agenda -How shall we do today's class? -The post approaches (focus on Foucault) -Videos & discussion

Open class agenda: March 29th

Open class on grand theories: core principles & differences How each of them help us see human difference (focusing on race)... Mirrors of privilege video series (select footage)

'Blue eyes, Brown eyes' video (Jane Elliott)

What I am doing to understand issues of race: personal reflection

How shall we do this class?

Making theory more fun! More group work, pics, videos? More practice? More guest speakers? Distinction between the grand theories still not clear
Let's start with a refresher (the theory diagram) Rather than remembering the heavy duty words, try to hang on to the concepts... More in our open class

Refresher: grand theories

STRUCTURALISM (POWER, who has it, who does not, what can we do about it)
--overlaps sometimes cause confusion in practice... --Why/how do you think they overlap? --no straightforward theory to implement... --Theory = lens --Use as many...

Modernism (answers, world

is knowable, science, logic, technology, linearity, progress, sameness, the universal)

Postconventionalism
(questions, world constructed through language, power relations; blurred boundaries, focus on difference, the local)

Social work, nursing, public health, psychology...

Post theories-Healy (or Postconventionalism)

The following theories are collectively referred to as post-theories or post-conventionalism --Post-modernism questions the reason, linearity, binaries and progress at the heart of modernism (origin: art, architecture) ***--Post-structuralism questions all of this PLUS language, power relations and specifically discourse (origin: linguistics; later on social theory; thinkers: Foucault)*** --Post-colonialism questions all of this PLUS notions such as third world nation and the binaries that follow; they seek to re-member, re-write local narratives, languages, practices long excluded by colonization (origin: literature)

Key ideas shared by post practitioners/thinkers

Subject & Subjectivity: We all have multiple selves/subjects that may change, conflict and be under construction at the same time (as opposed to identity which is fixed). Power: We can be powerful and powerless at the same time. Discourse: Ideas, practices & rules (some dominant, some subjugated) that circulate, & have effects Discourse analysis (social sciences) & Deconstruction (humanities) Post-structural methods How to identify/deconstruct a discourse

More on subject/subjectification & object/objectification...

Different use of the term 'subject' in social theories...

1. Modernity's universal human subject: e.g., the white, western, rational man who everyone has to measure up to (those who did not became sub-human). 2. A human being becomes a 'subject', i.e., an area of knowledge through processes of objectification (post-structural thought, e.g., 'mad', 'criminal' etc)

Note: a human being becomes an object by finding oneself on the wrong side of a normative division (male/female; hetero/queer; White/Black). E.g., women
becoming subjects of psychiatry through being objectified as 'irrational' 3. A subject is also a human being with political agency & dignity Identity: fixed Subjectivity: fluid, in constant flux

Post-structuralism: power, discourse & discourse analysis through Michel Foucault

French post-structuralist philosopher-historian. Massive influence on a variety of academic disciplines (history, sociology, legal studies, anthropology, psychology, women's studies, management & organizational studies etc) Emphasis on language, ideas, concepts, & what they do; rejection of universals (always held them against light for investigation) Major works on: madness & reason; medical practices; discipline & punishment (the prison system); history of sexuality, ethics of care, how human body in health & disease became a subject of attention etc, how we regulate ourselves etc...(pioneer in queer studies...)

Post-structuralism through Foucault: let's see an example of his work...

He argues that madness in the middle ages occupied a grand and tragic place, quite unlike what it does today. Although madness was deeply feared, it was also regarded as a source of truth, wisdom and dissent...mad men and women...regarded as awe-inspiring individuals gifted with strange and mystical powers... (Prasad, 2005, p. 245)

So, what changed between the middle ages and 19th century when madness came to be an illness? Can you guess?
--The rise of modernism, modern medicine, rational thought: madness became illness & a field of study -- Same with many other regular human conditions; human body & mind became objects of intense medical attention...

Google images & Toronto Star

-- remember that being on the wrong side of the 'norm' makes us objects of study/scrutiny --for fear of being punished we (often) discipline ourselves into fitting the 'norm' --flattening of differences

--this brings us to the first 'big idea' of Foucault: normalization

Google images

Major Foucauldian concepts 1: Panopticon

--Discipline & Punish, (1977); book on modern criminal justice system

The panopticon was an architectural form envisioned by British Utilitarian thinker Jeremy Bentham to solve the problem of monitoring prison inmates. "A building circular... The prisoners in their cells, occupying the circumferenceThe officers in the centre. By blinds and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed... from the observation of the prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of omnipresenceThe whole circuit reviewable with little, or... without any, change of place. One station in the inspection part affording the most perfect view of every cell--Bentham. Proposal for a New and Less Expensive mode of Employing & Reforming Convicts (London, 1798).

Panopticon
(Google images)

---Not sure when they are being watched, prisoners selfcorrect, monitor their behaviours... ---Panoptic power has invaded much of contemporary society ---Everyone watching everyone; mechanism of social control ---'normalization' ---disciplinary gaze that normalizes...

Panoptic society...

His notion of a panopticon society is one in which extensive and systematic record keeping merges with incessant surveillance to produce a disciplinary gaze that spans across most of society. By making individuals aware of the possibility of being monitored, a panoptic society encourages them to regulate their own conduct in keeping with desired social and institutional norms (Prasad, 2005, p. 249). E.g., Surveillance cameras, schools, home, internet, work plans, annual reports, tax filing...

Think about why we behave according to norms handed down to us

Panoptic society...

Google images

Are we free subjects?

How is this relevant to social work?

--Panopticon: surveillance mechanism --As social workers we often work within/for the state (think statutory child protection, welfare system, mental health, school etc...) --We are sometimes legally obligated to discipline people into fitting 'norms'

--Jobs involve intense documentation (to the extent that client care is compromised)

Something to think about...

Is social work a surveillance system? Why? Or, why not?

Major Foucauldian concepts 2: Power

--Traditional definition of power turned upside down: power is not something to possess/have; power is not necessarily power 'over'...

So what is power according to Foucault? How can we have it & not have it at the same time?

Major Foucauldian concepts 2: Power (contd)

Principles of Foucauldian notion of power (Sawicki, in Healy, 2005): --Power is a relation --Power is exercised than possessed --Power is productive; produces resistance & in turn, power again --Power (also) comes from bottom up How is it different from the notion of 'empowerment'?

Structural & Post-structural power

Pause & think: the difference from structuralism (e.g., who has power, who doesn't and all that)? --Structuralism believes in roots of power/oppression, finding it & doing something about it --Post-structuralists (influenced by Foucault) believe power is everywhere, no definite source --His notion of 'power/knowledge' explains it further...

Major Foucauldian concepts 3: Power/knowledge (nexus)

Power/knowledge nexus: Interdependent nature of power & knowledge. Not separate entities.
The exercise of power is responsible for the emergence of new objects of knowledge, while, conversely, knowledge developments mediate the ways in which power is exercised (Prasad, 2005, p. 253).

E.g., Think biomedicine & natural medicine; psychiatry & survivor movement; DSM & queer theorizing; patriarchy & feminism; feminism & Black/women of colour feminism & so on...
Cycle of power/knowledge is ongoing...

Major Foucauldian concepts 4: Discourse

Discourse: A collection of words, practices and rules that are considered 'true', 'right' etc (e.g., 'all women love to be mothers', 'Black people are violent', 'women invite rape if they don't cover themselves', 'queer people are perverts', 'immigrants don't measure up to Canadians' etc...).
Characteristics:

--Pervasive, travels (through micro & macro practices) --Has a history (not straightforward) --Productive (e.g., disciplined, 'normal' subjects) --Some dominant, some subjugated, create power and new knowledge
Examples of subjugated discourses? Why are they subjugated?

Major Foucauldian concepts 4: Discourse (contd)

--Subjugated discourses are subjugated/subordinated because they do not have institutional homes. While Foucault does not answer how to deal with this...his own works demonstrate that --One way to forefront subjugated discourses is to historicize & name them (what Foucault did with madness and sexuality) --His method was Discourse Analysis Discourse analysis: Think how mad/sane, queer/hetero, criminal/civil, able/disabled, civilized/barbaric etc. are understood...Foucault asked: 1. Where did it come from, 2. what is sustaining it, & 3. what is it producing.

Practice time Discourse analysis (with Judith Butler)

--Panopticon, power, power/knowledge & discourse are allied concepts Foucault developed to understand the nature of modern society --Labelled apolitical for his circular, notion of power that may make one feel hopeless (i.e., moving in circle)

--However, very active himself in contemporary political movements

--Let's see (with Judith Butler) if discourse analysis has political potential. Note the use of production, performance, normalization, practices, conformity, norms etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE

Implications for Social Work

--Critical/Structural social workers challenge the fluid notions of 'subject' & 'subjectivity' as opposed to the stable notion of 'identity': E.g., if there is no such 'identity' called 'woman' how do we do violence against women work? Or, if race is all a construct what does that mean for anti-racist work? --Post-structural social workers adopt a 'both/and' lens --E.g., the identities we have are roots of our oppression in the first place. How can we acknowledge this & use those very identity categories to share experience & voice concerns? E.g.?

Implications for Social Work

--Post-structural focus on language/concepts draw attention away from structural issues? --Post-structural does not mean negating the influence of structures; it means looking beyond structures, binaries --Post-structural notion of power as relation offers a more nuanced way of looking at/working with service users

INTRODUCING NARRATIVE THERAPY

Narrative therapy: Four steps

Externalize the problem (i.e. bad marks)

Personalize

the problem, visualize and minimize

it.

Tell alternate/good stories

What

else is happening? What are you proud of?

Build a supportive team

Who

sees this other you? Who can witness this good stuff? a log/box of evidence that you and your life are more than the problem

Thicken the thread

Build

Doing narrative therapy

Find a partner. Choose a problem that has been in your life for a while. Taking turns as therapist and client, try out the steps of: Externalizing it (naming it, visually moving it out of your life)

Telling a good story about your life that has been overshadowed by the problem. Sharing who is on your team (who sees this other you). Building a case (what evidence do you have of this other you?)

Feedback on narrative therapy

What was that like? What was easier or harder about it? Where and when might you use it?

Why is it a post approach to you?

1. On academic writing: The Technical

Sentences: No more than two major thoughts. i.e. I came to school today wearing my sassy brown boots, but I forgot my shirt was on inside out. In a formal assignment, try not to use slang (get) and contractions (i.e. dont, cant, wont). Punctuation: Periods go after the page number i.e. Fook (2002) says that none of us are all good (p.223). Commas go before conjunctions or linking words that join ideas in a sentence (i.e. David wrote a song for his client, and he performed it on video.) Semi-colons are way too populartry not to use as a simple comma will often suffice. Spelling: Please use your spell check (especially when you are tired) AND read over your work as much as possible.

On paragraphs
Think about tightening up your paragraphs and limiting them to one major idea each (the history of critical social work is.). Try to use no more than 5 sentences per paragraph to explain that major idea. Either indent your paragraphs or add an extra space between them

On Referencing

If it is not your idea or your choice of word, reference it immediately. For example, For critical social workers a critique of positivism is central (Fook, 2002). Direct quotes need page numbers and double quotation marks. Foucault (2000) wrote that its not that everything is bad, but it is dangerous (p. 192).

Big or long quotes (more than a couple of sentences) need to be indented and single spaced.
APA referencing at the end is always alphabetical Full referencing for books includes author, date, name of the text, the location and the publisher For journals it includes, author, date, title, name of journal, volume, number and page numbers.

First exercise
Pull out your first assignment and read the first page.what common issues did you find?

How to write a better paper

Use sections in the assignment as subheadings for your paper. This will help to organize your writing, thinking and research. Profs love this. Under each subheading, jot down your ideas, go back to the course and additional texts to add in arguments, quotes, texts etc. Then write it up. If you dont know how to find an article, go to the Ryerson library, choose indexes, then go to the social work index, type in your key words and then read the abstracts that come up. If you are not finding anything, play with your key words. If you are still not finding anything, find a librarian. Think long and hard about a title that will get your profs attention. Make the first line stand out, draw your reader in...

More on papers

As you write, READ YOUR WORK OUT LOUD TO YOURSELF. If it doesnt sound like you, change it. Use I as in I think, I argue, I have found whenever appropriate (i.e. most social work courses) When you finish a section or a draft, sleep on it and read it again in the morning. Add in questions that cannot be answered from time to time. Profs like these. Always include an intro and a conclusion. The intro is a taste of what you will focusing on and what you will not. The conclusion summarizes your major points and leaves us with a few additional questions that you just did not have time or space to address. When you are finished, print it out and read it over in natural light (preferably out loud). Find someone else to read it.