Power and Resistance
Power and Resistance
Part four of Foucault’s History of Sexuality begins with a discussion and definition of power. Foucault argues that through most of Western history since the medieval period, power has been equivalent to what has been codified into law. In political thought and analysis, he argues, we still have not “cut the head off the king,” by which he means to say that we have found it difficult to see beyond power transmitted from above through juridical forms to the populace below (89). This conception of power is inadequate to a discussion of sexuality that is affected not just by codes and laws, but by a discourse that has found root in many places across the spectrum of society. And so a new definition of power “that goes beyond the state and its apparatus” (89) is necessary, one that can conceive of “sex without the law,” (91). For Foucault, “power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere,” (93). Power is not a unique identifiable thing or apparatus, but something that exists at every level of society, that is neither above or below historical processes and constructions, but rather is immanent in them (94).
This definition of power can be something quite startling to consider: it identifies power with something nearly unidentifiable; rather than conveniently defining power as that which is codified into law (either by the state, the church, or other authorities), it defines power as being sourced in “manifold relationships of force” present in the family, groups, and institutions (94). Power, then, is not so much of a state-versus-citizen nature, but a dynamic presence in a society that evolves over time. This also means that institutions that developed when power was exercised in one form may outlive their relative usefulness, as a new sourcing of power develops over time. Removing “the king” from a conception of power dynamics forces the discussion to look away from the simple development of laws and codes to greater historical trends that may not be represented in such.
Foucault develops several propositions about the nature of power in Chapter 2 of Part 4 (pp 94-6). Among these propositions is a conception of resistance in relation to power. Foucault proposes that one is, in a sense, inside of power: there is no escaping it. It follows, then, that resistance, which accompanies power, is also never outside of it, but rather represent points within the larger power network (95). These points are not evenly distributed, across time or place, just as the power network is not necessarily distributed evenly in certain distinct localized areas. An analogy, of sorts, can then be proposed between power and resistance: the network of power relations reaches its greatest density in institutions and apparatuses, “without being localized in them,” just as point of resistance reach their greatest density at certain points in time and across certain groups, making revolution possible (96).
By making this analogy, there is no intent to define revolution as anti-power, or the reverse operation of power. Rather, revolution, or it would seem the changing or transformation of structures, institutions, or policies, seems to be a distinct possibility as points of resistance, the stuff of revolution, are natural companions to the power network. Furthermore, just as power is not a unique concept defined by one particular body or apparatus, neither is revolution or resistance; there exists, Foucault writes, a “plurality of resistances, each of them a special case,” (96). Some of these resistances will be short, others long-lasting, some puritanical, others quick to compromise, some savage, others passive. Although points of resistance stand in opposition to certain elements of power, as part of a larger, continuously evolving network of forces, they are not necessarily doomed to failure, as resistances serve the purpose within this larger power network of not so much producing great, huge moments of sweeping change, but of slowly cleaving certain elements of society, of continuously grouping and regrouping and slowly molding a different society.
Tags: law, power, resistance, revolution, society
