Michel Foucault and the Authoritarian Reality of Modern Society

Introduction

Foucault strongly believed that training came from the concept of discipline. The underlying objective of such a disciplinary power is basically to train. It can be explained as the blending of several different powers that make up the entire body. However, there are primarily three key functions that are used for the purpose of assessing whether or not the disciplinary power has been triumphant. These are normalizing judgment, hierarchical observation and examination. Many educational and societal reforms can be brought by what has been said by Michel Foucault. However, Foucault beliefs and understanding were far different and cannot simply be applied to the todays world. In fact, the question arises that “is Faucault's idea of training and discipline strongly interrelated or there are other notable factors that can be considered to influence the same?”

Discussion

Foucault tries to study the phenomenon that is used by disciplinary power to create individuals out of groups. He suggests that the very existence of an individual means that the power is being destroyed. I believe that this is true to some extent that the power here will be treating all the people in a similar way (Foucault, p. 171). This means that the laws of discipline for one person should essentially be applicable to all others in the very same fashion. This rules out the possibility of individuality, which means that shaping a group of individuals who are similar in nature and characteristics rather than the individuals who have the ability as well as the freedom to be independent (Foucault, p. 172). This again pops up the question that if all similar individuals are the ones that are being considered in this scenario, and that the ones that are independent and different from each other, it certainly is not addressing the complete audience. This further implies that the concept proposed by Faucault is not generic and is limited. Individuality is a function of subjectivity which also means that if people are not asked to think the way they want to, they will all end up thinking the same and being the same.

Michel Foucault says that disciplinary behavior is about suggesting norms on average behavior and considers it as the key operation of disciplinary power. He further categorizes this operation into two perspectives - observation and training. Observation refers to the ability of the person to view and notice the things that go around him while training refers to the person's act of repeating the same thing again and again in an attempt to master it. However, there is substancial difference between the concept of training and exercise. Training is repeating a task with the attempts to understanding or learning it while an exercise is attempting a task on repeative basis without having to understand it (Foucault, p. 174).

Observation gives a person the ability to remain individual. Similarly, I believe that this cannot be determined due to the fact that observation and as to ho much a person ...