Power and Culture

Background of Concept

The concept of culture used here refers to meaning, norms and aesthetic/ritual practices in a broad sense. It coincides with the understanding of culture as manifested in generalized patterns of communication and interpretation, in line with the thinking of Clifford Geertz (1973). Culture is 'there', as given, forcefully shaping perceptions and modes of interpretation. But it has to be enacted and interpreted by social actors in order to retain its force. For analytical purposes culture cannot be grasped as a totality, however, it has to be broken down into patterns or pieces, what Wendy Griswold (1987) has termed cultural objects: messages in the form of utterances, pictures, narratives, songs, rituals, games, arguments, tools, buildings—often linked into broader patterns, such as styles, aesthetic doctrines, theological systems and scientific theories. Such carriers of signification are interpreted in the light of constitutive rules, classification systems, genres and grammars (Alexander, pp. 527-573).

For the purposes of the present chapter, the formula coined by Michel Foucault, delimiting power as a 'set of actions upon other actions' (1983: 220) is sufficient as a general understanding of what power is about. This means that power is treated as a generic concept, the central focus being a pragmatics of power, outlining the relevant mechanisms where power is put into action. Within the framework of culture, power is largely exerted by influencing social actors' interpretations. Crucial in this respect is the distinction between the direct and indirect workings of power. Direct power effects are typically achieved by speech acts conveying promises and threats, enunciating prohibitions, issuing orders and making requests. Indirect power may take the form of persuasion, acting on actors' knowledge and beliefs about the nature of the world, and their conceptions of how the world ought to be, as expressed in norms, values, political loyaltiesor personal preferences. Moreover, power works indirectlybyaffecting individuals' opportunity structure. In the cultural realm this includes their possibility to express their views in public, their access to information and to cultural objects, such as books, films, newspapers and cultural institutions. Finally, power shapes the interpretational modes of those to be influenced, by affecting actors' worldviews, and epistemological conceptions, their interpretive skills, as well as their self-esteem and ability to make well-founded judgments.

Aspects of Culture and Power

State of emergency according to Giorgio Agamben:

The 20th century witnessed, according to Giorgio Agamben, a paradoxical and disturbing fact, as far as that goes unnoticed by most people: we live in the context of what has been called a legal civil war.The state of emergency, ie the suspension of legal order that is often seen as an interim measure and extraordinary, is becoming today, visibly, in a normal paradigm of government, which increasingly determined and seemingly unstoppable politics of modern states in almost every dimension. Giorgio Agamben's book offers a rigorous attempt to reconstruct the ancient historical origins of this figure and also to analyze the reasons and the sense of current developments, from Hitler to Guantanamo. When the state of exception tends to be confused ...