Plague, Pestilence and Power

Michel Foucault (1979) demonstrated how those searching for order in times of fear and chaos
place their very lives in the hands of those who wield power. Prior to modern medicine, one of
the most terrifying events were outbreaks of an infectious disease, or plague. So widespread was
the fear of a plague that by the end of the 17th century most towns had clear sets of “measures to
be taken when the plague appeared in a town” (p. 195). Here, Foucault demonstrated how
“discipline brings into play it’s power, which is one of analysis” (p. 197).

By submitting to “an omnipresent and omniscient power” (p. 197) townspeople under quarantine
surrendered all rights and liberties, hoping to create a source of power strong enough to combat
and overcome the outbreak. However, do not be deceived by notions of voluntarily surrendering
one’s rights as a symbolic release of power that would later be returned, no such transaction
takes place. Those with power impose emergency measures; any townspeople who fail to abide
by the clear hierarchy of command are “condemned to death” (p. 195). This triangular hierarchy
becomes our blueprint for examining power through Foucault’s eyes. Yet, there is no broad base
of untapped power in the pyramid waiting to rise, to Foucault “power is exercised without
division” (p. 197). Those at the top receive information then disseminate both judgement and
manifestations of power, those in the middle carry out the latter in each direction, those at the
bottom obey. Although an extreme example, the power of a quarantine system is the perfect
place to further analyze concepts of power.

Perceived Power through the Panopticon

Foucault referred to “mechanisms” (p. 199) or manifestations of power through Bentham’s
Panopticon, seeing the early 19th century prison design as “the architectural figure of this
composition” (p. 200). The concept of “backlighting” (p. 200) prisoners in order to remove any
sense of privacy is not dissimilar from the modern concept of ‘Big Brother’ in that there is
nowhere to hide from those who wield the power, no shadows in which to find reprieve;
simultaneously, nothing can be seen or witnessed of those who wield power upon you. Unable to
directly observe those perceived to have power in the central guard tower of the prison, yet also
unable to know with any degree of certainty when they are being observed by the guard who
wields it, the illusion of power through the Panopticon becomes an intangible, yet incredibly
potent force upon prisoners, a “faceless gaze” (p. 214) as power no longer needs to be wielded
directly. Instead, in its place the fear of perceived power changes the point of application from
the body to the mind.

A Brief Timeline of Power

In “The history of sexuality, vol. 1” Foucault (1980) provided a timeline of power, its sources
and manifestations. We begin with the right of supreme sovereigns “to decide life and death”
(p.135), historically with the swing of a sword. Importantly, in both the Classical and Medieval
contexts, power is a means of “deduction, a subtraction mechanism” (p. 136-137). This harkens
to ideas of absolute monarchies, patriarchal family structures and power emanating from people,
not ideas or concepts shared amongst a people. Yet, as we transition into the Modern and
Contemporary ages we see “deduction” (p. 138) fade into the background of power’s common
manifestations. Herein lies the transition of power from a “subtraction mechanism” (p. 136) to a
generative force. In addition, power no longer rests exclusively with the sovereign (p. 139), but
exists also within the “social body” (p. 139). Furthermore, power manifests not as the tangible
will of an individual but instead as an ideology or concept.

Power in People and in Principle

In the current context of power and its manifestations, Foucault put forward that power
manifests in two basic forms and once again notes significant shifts in it’s base. Regarding
forms, power evolves into “anatomo-politics” and “biopolitics” (p. 139), primarily surrounding
the mechanics, development and supervision of the human body and it’s workings. Regarding
power’s base, we now see it rests first within economic entities, focused on “the administration
of bodies and the calculated management of life.” (p. 139-140). Secondly, Foucault stated that
power also rests innately within each of us as “The “right” to life, to one’s body, to health, to
happiness, to the satisfaction of needs, and beyond all the oppressions or “alienations,” the
“right” to rediscover what one is and all that one can be” (p. 145). From classroom management,
design and composition, to the nature of hierarchies and leadership structures within school
systems, Foucauldian principles are present throughout the world of education. Examples of
these contemporary notions of power are present in the work of Kohl, H. (2009), or Dauphinais
(2021) who navigates “mindfulness as biopower” (p. 17) in an educational context through a
“Foucauldian perspective” (p. 17).

References

Dauphinais, J. (2021). Mindful subjects: The disciplinary power of mindfulness in schools. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, 6(1), n.p. https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/mindful-subjects-the-disciplinary-power-of-mindfulness-in-schools/

Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage.

Foucault, M. (1980). The history of sexuality, vol. 1: An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). Vintage.

Kohl, H. (2009). The educational panopticon. Teachers College Record, # 15477, n.p. https://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=15477

Suggested Readings for Further Study

Adams, E. (2021). Making sense of space: mapping and materializing panoptic features in research with youth and teachers. Journal of Curriculum Studies. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1957156

Gruenwald, D. (2003). A Foucauldian analysis of environmental education: Toward the socioecological challenge of the Earth Charter. Curriculum Inquiry, 34(1), 71-107. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2004.00281.x

Higgins, M. (2018). Reconfiguring the optics of the critical gaze in science education (after the critique of critique): (Re)thinking “what counts” through Foucaultian prismatics. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 13(1), 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-016-9799-4

Huckaby, M. F. (2011). Researcher/researched: Relations of vulnerability/relations of power. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 24(2), 165-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2010.529851

Hughes, A. (2021). Positioning Indigenous knowledge systems within the Australian mathematics curriculum: Investigating transformative paradigms with Foucault. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 42(4), 487-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1715345

Jefferson, N., & Smith-Peterson, M. (2021). The physics of power: Stories of panopticism at two levels of the school system. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, 6(1), n.p. https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-physics-of-power-stories-of-panopticism-at-two-levels-of-the-school-system/

Klaf, S. (2013). School labelling as technology of governance: Problematizing ascribed labels to school spaces. The Canadian Geographer, 57(3), 296-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12020

Monreal, T. (2021). Stitching together more expansive Latinx teacher self/vs: Movidas of rasquache and spaces of counter-conduct in El Sur Latinx. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, 6(1), n.p. https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/stitching-together-more-expansive-latinx-teacher-self-ves-movidas-of-rasquache-and-spaces-of-counter-conduct-in-el-sur-latinx/

Quinn, J. (2021). Using Foucault to examine current U.S. sex education. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, 6(1), n.p. https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/using-foucault-to-examine-current-u-s-sex-education-policy/

Vinson, K. D. (1999). National curriculum standards and social studies education: Dewey, Freire, Foucault, and the construction of a radical critique. Theory and Research in Social Education, 27(3), 296-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.1999.10505883

Webb, P. T., Briscoe, F. M., & Mussman, M. P. (2009). Preparing teachers for the neoliberal panopticon. Educational Foundations, 23(3-4), 3-18. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ871545.pdf

Zaino, K. (2021). Liberal humanism, social science, and the discursive legacy of the “human” in English education. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, 6(1), n.p. https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/liberal-humanism-social-science-and-the-discursive-legacy-of-the-human-in-english-education/