Week 9- Power, Resistance, and Discipline

· Why would I assign Foucault and Office Space in the same week? What can Office Space teach us about resistance, discipline, and power?

The greatest takeaway from Foucault’s essay on The Subject and Power is that “power is exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free.” In the movie, Office Space, Peter Gibbons eventually “frees” himself by refusing to work overtime and eventually charming two company consultants with his carelessness and honesty about the job.

Foucault also speaks much about surveillance and the panopticon. We see this when Peter is confronted by his multiple bosses about not completing his TPS reports correctly. Although it seems like they keep a close eye on what he does, when we later see his interview with the two consultants, he explains how in one week he conducts a total of 15 minutes of actual work. This shows how the companies 8 bosses aren’t very useful since they oversee so much under-productivity. Another great point in the movie is how Peter explains why he doesn’t want to do more work then he has to and that is that he finds no motivation to do so. Although the corporation tries to build a sort of camaraderie by hanging up motivational signs or organizing out of uniform days, it doesn’t seem to make the slightest difference for the employees as seen by their mundane appearances.

The greatest highlight for Peter as well as his two co-workers is when they engage in resistance and try to make money by hacking into the companies financial system. Although this “boycott” was on a small scale, resistance has been recently growing tremendously. You just have to go downtown Chicago on a given day and notice strikes by the teachers unions or other groups. Take for example the teachers union that is constantly protesting. In this scenario it is two great powers butting heads — the government and the union. The greatest issue is who has too much power and who is right? Foucault would not care because he rejects any notion of right or wrong.

Taking a step back to panopticon and surveillance, today’s technology has completely taken over the world of privacy and ability to get away with things. Although in one sense it is good that people are being held more accountable because all their computers are watched and surveillance cameras exist almost everywhere, on the other hand too much surveillance can also desensitize workers to not want to do anything just like Peter Gibbons. My favorite example was when he said that his only motivation to get his work done or anything right was because he didn’t want to hear about the same mistake from 8 different bosses. This sort of annoyance is what brings down employee morale and eventually leads to unhealthy organizations and resistance.

• What is manufactured consent? Why is this concept so powerful?

Manufactured consent is when employees are given the will to take on and enforce the legitimate power of the organization. The best example would be in times of economic distress or even a recession, if a CEO of a company decided to accept a voluntary pay cut. Not only would this create a conductive organizational culture and even reduce turnover, but the bounce back of the companies funds would be faster.This is similar to the example of how Southwest Airlines has found a great way to reduce fares although they have given the employees more freedom to personal decisions and decreased fear of being fired.

Another type of control is mentioned in the section on hidden power of legitimation, and that is, concertive control. Although it may work for certain companies such as 3M, where the Post-It note was invented, I think the greatest danger is explained by professor Phil Tompkins who explains “managers who implement a concertive-control system for employees may themselves come to be controlled by that same system”. This had me once again think of the teachers union. Now although the government may have not wanted a teachers union to be formed, it happened because of our right to democracy. Unfortunately it grew to such a great power that now it is overpowering the government as it seems.

If I were smart like Peter Gibbons though, I would have long ago realized that my professor is in power and that I don’t want to be a subject any longer and have to write about things I am told to write about. Rather I could leave it all alone and write about whatever I want to or about nothing at all.