Foucault- fang pre class

Michel Foucault is outlining the current state of discipline in his piece. He describes “the utopia of the perfectly governed city” (96) which has essentially made an overlord that represses the citizens and outlines one path. Foucault explains how the current attitude towards discipline and notes that the “collective effect, is abolished” (98). When a group is oppressed, either by a state regime or an ISA, the collective group becomes stunted and there is a lot less freedom and thinking. Foucault notes the big change for the guardian after the oppression stating, “[the collective effect] is replaced by a multiplicity that can be numbered and supervised” (98).  The state of oppression is such that the underlings of the guardian go about the day knowing they have no free will past their day-to-day lives.

Foucault’s second piece focuses on how secretizing sex only augments its power. By seeking pleasure in knowing something about the secret of sex, we have created a “new pleasure in confiding [sex] in secret, of luring it out in the open- the specific pleasure of the true discourse on pleasure” (105-106). Over time, sex has become something more than it needs to be and a secret in society.

I suggested Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” for class because it expresses Dylan’s feelings about the oppressive state regime. There is a line about the “National Guard that waits outside the door” and an overall theme of anger and oppression (though some argue that it was about his response to the folk movement, aspects of the song could speak to oppression and class exploitation).  The song also is a part of Bentham’s idea that “there were no more bars, no more chains, no more heavy locks; all that was needed was that the separations should be clear and the openings well arranged” (99) as the narrator works on the farm just subtly oppressed.