How Michel Foucault’s Idea of Power Can Help Us Today
For Foucault, power can be a vehicle for exerting change
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher who lived from 1926–1984. He was extremely productive and his work spans many topics. He wrote about the ways madness has been understood throughout history, changing conceptions and systems of punishment, and how sexuality has been understood throughout history, at different moments.
However, one concept which has a prominent position throughout Foucault’s work is power. Power has often been understood as a negative force or concept in political thought and history. In the contexts of history and politics, power has often been understood as the force an authority, government, or ruler has to crush, oppress, or dominate its opponents.
However, for Foucault, power is more neutral than this. For Foucault, power is simply equivalent to the ability to bring about a desired result. In other words, if you want to do something and you are able to do it, you have the power to be able to do what it is you want to do.
Of course, for Foucault, power can be used to bring about malicious social, cultural, and political conditions. But power in Foucault’s view can also be used to bring about positive social, political, and cultural change too.
