Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Foucault in the Classroom (frightening thought)
Sovereign and disciplinary power are differentiated in various ways but most importantly in how power is exercised, to what end, and who is constructed as individuals. In my institution of a middle school tutoring program, almost all the power exhibited is disciplinary. And there's a lot of it....
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Sovereign and disciplinary power are differentiated in various ways but most importantly in how power is exercised, to what end, and who is constructed as individuals. Sovereign power is fully possessed by the sovereign and other nobles or elites (192). It is best exhibited through punishment that is a public and passionate spectacle used to repress whatever is forbidden at the time (8, 17). This punishment is intentionally painful in order to induce fear in the onlookers so that they will not commit crimes too. In this case, the punishment is not directed at the criminal so much as the audience. Another key element of sovereign power is that the sovereign and nobles are most constituted as individuals (192-3). They are marked by the rituals, status, and other mechanisms that direct observation, and thus individualization, at them. These mechanisms and the effect of heroization as individuals serve to reaffirm and “ground,” or justify, the possessors’ surplus power (29, 187-8).
ReplyDeleteThis is counter to disciplinary power where everybody is constructed as an individual or a “case” for hierarchical observation, normalization, and examination (192). These three mechanisms effectively objectify each individual as an object for power with the goal being to produce and subject usable individuals and bodies (26, 184-5). Simultaneously, they are objectified as objects for study by the human sciences that arose in parallel with disciplinary power (193). This connection between power and knowledge is key in disciplinary power as they mutually reinforce one another. Regarding disciplinary punishment, the idea is to “correct” individuals which fits with the general theme of disciplinary power being productive and focused on individuals as objects for power and knowledge (10). Thus, through the three interacting mechanisms above, individuals are made visible to power, judged, compared, ranked, homogenized, excluded, included, and documented (171, 183, 191). These train individuals by acting on their souls, i.e. their “thoughts”, “wills,” and “inclinations” (16). Crucially, also, disciplinary power acts through each individual and societal institution who never possess power but can only exercise it (26-7).
In my institution of a tutoring program, almost all the power that is exercised is disciplinary. It strongly exhibits the dual purpose of repressing negative, mainly disruptive or unfocused, behavior while also producing capable students who internalize the positive norms of “successful” academic achievement. To these ends, the students are constantly observed, normalized, and examined. We, tutors, are not allowed to leave students unobserved, and, being tutors, this observation is certainly hierarchical and downward. The students are also separated by groups of six into different rooms, thus upsetting somewhat their ability to observe each other. The norms of the program are ubiquitous and posted in each room. Moreover, the students review them weekly in the sole grade-wide meeting. The students are further homogenized by the constant, mostly verbal, emphasis on productive work and academic success. This emphasis is reinforced negatively, e.g. through make-up sessions for uncompleted work, and positively, e.g. through verbal praise and material rewards for consistently filling out their assignment logs (a difficult task for youngsters but one most now do automatically). Recently, they showed the extent to which they internalized the norms of achievement in their rather emotional responses to high school acceptances (most attend private schools with scholarships and aid). Examination is also a constant. From the beginning, their assignment logs are examined. During sessions they are examined to make sure they are acting according to norms. Daily documents are kept of how much work was completed and their behavior. At least weekly they have tests that are filed away. Less regular tests also determine whether students should be separated in remedial sessions. In general, students become objectified “cases” for study by tutors who monthly share problems, achievements, and suggestions for each individual student as necessary.
The school definitely focuses on disciplinary power just by the examples you have given in your essay. Reading it makes me reflect on all the positive and negative reinforcements I received depending on my behavior in elementary and middle school. It kind of makes you think twice about everything because of the way we're taught to behave. It's scary because we all want to fit in this norm so we can receive positive enforcements and good grades because that's what we're taught to do since we were kids. I feel like part of me is taken away! I still remember I was taught to sit properly with my hands folded when the teacher wanted our attention during elementary school and it has stuck with me all my life. It's weird because I sit with my hands folded when I'm just sitting in the car or watching a movie. It's amazing how much disciplinary power is enforced in institutions and causes us all to behave a certain way. Foucault's ideas are engraved in my mind and I think twice about everything I do now.
ReplyDeleteSchools are great examples of how we become "cases". I remember a teacher threatening me once, through discipline, that if I didn't do a said task correctly that it would go in my file. It was after high school I learned how extensive this "file", or as Foucault would call it "case", can be. Students are not only documented for grades, but behavior, tardiness, etc., and this is followed from school to school (in the case of transfers for example). These cases persist outside of high school as well, I recently read a story that the U.S. government actually keeps track of all college undergrads and their degrees, probably for recruiting purposes, but still. It's disturbing to see how much of a "case" each one of us can be.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the classroom displays disciplinary power most through its focus on production. This was a key point for my reading of Foucault. The punishment in schools is disciplinary through its motivation to produce individuals which conform to social expectations. The disciplinary power exercised through positive reinforcement (BB's, gold stars, etc) and negative punishment exists for this productive goal.
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