Monday, March 16, 2009

Sovereign Power Vs. Disciplinary Power

This paper discusses the difference between sovereign and disciplinary power and their relation to trade union institutions. 
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  1. FelipeMarch 16, 2009 at 9:44 AM

    Felipe Garcia
    Sociology
    GSI – Levien
    March 10, 2009

    Essay #2 Foucault

    Foucault discusses two different types of powers, sovereign and disciplinary. Foucault’s example of sovereign power is a public show for the masses (3-6). The ritual of humiliating, torturing, and ripping apart of the criminal is centered on causing fear into its audience. The king puts on the grisly show to keep his citizens under control. The idea is that if people see what could possibly be done to them, they will not fall into the same type of behavior or actions as the criminal. This type of punishment under sovereign power is focused directly on the body. This is because the pain inflicted on the person is designed to restore order in the masses and not the individual being executed.
    Due to the brutal nature of sovereign power’s punishment, people begin to feel sympathy for the “Damien” or criminal. Over time, this leads to a change to a disciplinary type of power. Unlike sovereign power, disciplinary power shifts the focus of punishment from the masses to the individual. It is designed to restore or cure the individual. It is also designed to be proactive and shape individuals to fit certain norms. In disciplinary power, the focus of punishment on the body is moved to the punishment or containment of the soul. Foucault compares the two by analyzing the obvious change from public grisly executions to the ridged time regiments of a prison. Punishments have now been hidden away from the public and the body is only third party used to incarcerate the soul.
    Sovereign and disciplinary powers are very different. One is more public and concentrates on attacking the body in order to preserve control of the masses; where the other is more focused on punishing the soul in private in order to cure the individual.
    Felipe Garcia
    Sociology
    GSI – Levien
    March 10, 2009
    Sovereign & Disciplinary Powers
    In Trade Unions
    Disciplinary power is present in trade labor unions. This can be seen when observing contractual disputes between the employer and members of a particular trade labor union. This usually means that the employer or the union member(s) believe that one or the other has violated the union contract. When there is a contractual dispute between the employer and members of a union, the union representative has many tactics to their disposal on how to remedy the situation. For the sake of this example we will say that a Janitorial company who cleans downtown ski rises has violated the union contract. The workers along with their union representative are looking for a solution. The workers can (a) use a type of disciplinary power, which would include but not be limited to picketing in front of one of their employer’s buildings, which is owned by someone else. This would be considered disciplinary power because the employer violating the contract would want to clear up the issue of the workers before it disrupted their relationship between them and their customers. In a way, this action is restoring or curing the employer’s behavior back to normal.
    An example of sovereign power that can be see when labor unions are in a contract campaign that includes multiple employers negotiating in one union contract. In these cases, it is not surprising to see the employers uniting against the union. To battles the effort of the employers teaming up on the union, the union will often make an example out of one or two of the employers by staging a walk out (not to be confused with a strike). This usually sends a message to all the employers that their not the only ones willing to play hard ball and that the workers are will to fight for fair wages and benefits.

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