French philosopher Michel Foucault challenges the perception that power is wielded by people or groups by way of ‘episodic’ or ‘sovereign’ acts of domination, instead he sees it as dispersed and pervasive. Foucault is most notable for recognizing that power is not just a negative repressive sociological occurrence that forces us to do things against our wishes, but can also be used as a necessary, productive and positive tool within society "We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’. In fact power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production" (Foucault, M. 1987). Foucault's work reveals how deeply discipline is embedded into society and how the children are brought up to it. The focauldian framework places power as a major source of social discipline and conformity as well as pointing out a new kind of ‘disciplinary power’ that could be observed in the administrative systems and social institutions, for example prisons, schools and mental hospitals. Their systems of surveillance and assessment no longer required force or violence, as people learned to discipline themselves and behave in expected ways. This where Foucault's prominant conseption of Social Contructionism takes place. Social Constructionism is a popular theory within sociological studies about the concepts of truth and reality. It is based on the notion that different environments and social experiences shape every individuals perception of what is true and what is real in a unique way. This theory is often criticized as an affront to truth but Focault has been hugely influential in pointing to the ways that norms can be so deeply embedded into society that it might even be beyond our perception – causing us to discipline ourselves without any willful coercion from others. "if now I am interested . . . in the way in which the subject constitutes himself in an active fashion, by the practices of the self, these practices are nevertheless not something that the individual invents by himself. They are patterns that he finds in his culture and which are proposed, suggested and imposed on him by his culture, his
society and his social group" (Foucault, M. 1987) Social Constructionism clashes with science as it argues against any notions of human nature being fixed. Ian Hacking, a Canadian philosopher who specializes in the History of Science presents this debate in his book The Social Construction of What? While there isn't much of a case put forth, he does a good job of elaborating how social construction works and along side highlighting the valid points of both sides, question of what, precisely, is being constructed. Once a scientific question is well-posed, realists are right to insist there are determinate answers independent of what anyone thinks. But constructionists are right to point out that contingent personal, social, and cultural factors influence what questions are asked, as well as the standards and methods used to evaluate the answers to the questions. Thus, Hacking concludes that although the "content" of science is realist enough to warrant the term, the "form" of science is not.
With Foucault and many aligned works, there’s this sense of expose, that in seeing something as construction, its in-authenticity is more apparent, in fact, some might say that this is the problem with the entire concept. Once you think of the process of social creation as a “construction”, participation in what you would imagine as social creation, will be in-genuine, because you are going to have a more manipulative sensibility about what you are doing. However, in my opinion, acknowledging that something is constructed does not necessarily make it fake. Do people really not want to celebrate Christmas anymore once they understand that the way we tend to celebrate it is pretty much a late 19th century creation rather than the way the Christians have always done things, or for that matter not enjoy pictures of Santa Claus once they know he was designed by Coke? People do not have to be Christian to enjoy celebrating Christmas. Rituals and traditions are what we make of them and I think modern society is able to embrace the choices that offers without necessarily feeling robbed of authenticity as a result.
Bibliography:
MacNaughton, G., Naughton, G.M. and McNaughton, G. (2005) Doing Foucault in early childhood studies: Applying post-structural ideas. New York, NY: Routledge Falmer.
Hacking, I. (1999) The social construction of what? Harvard University Press,
Olssen, M. (1999) Michel Foucault: Materialism and education. BERGIN & GARVEY
Westport, Connecticut London
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