Foucault used the word docility in order to give an explanation of how control and power was attained through discipline. The body needs attention. People used to be forced to undergo violence and torture. Now times have changed, and people are being subjected to control and discipline. In all institutions of social life; discipline is used. A docile body is one that may be “subjected, used, transformed and improved, and this docile body can only be achieved through strict regimen of disciplinary acts” (Foucault, pg 136). It can be said that docile bodies are submissive. This means most of us are capable of being dominated. This concept made some become aware of the control they could have. They first noticed that it was better to apply force over a single person instead of groups. Then power was used to control by “efficiency of movement, their internal control.” Lastly, control focused on the process instead of the product. Foucault states that this domination is unlike slavery. He says that “discipline produces subjected and practiced bodies; docile bodies” (pg 138). This was not a new discovery; instead it was used as needed. In order to understand the concept of a docile body, you must understand the little things. There are many components that make up the discipline of docile bodies. From the art of distribution, the temporal elaboration of the act, the correlation of the body, and the gesture of the body object articulation, exhaustive use, and lastly the composition of forces. Most of us are docile bodies. This can be said with confidence because we’ve all been through the educational system. The education system is a prime example of disciplining docile bodies. Each disciplinary action required in the making of a docile ...
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...om day one the exercises of a soldier. These children would become veterans and the cycle wold repeat. You cannot take out the force of something if you know how to recognize it and unite it with others. All the acts of discipline must be ordered by someone who is clear and concise. It does not have to be explained not does it need to be understood. The masters job is to send the signal and for the other person to become aware of it and respond in the correct manner. This can be seen in the education system; for example, “few words, no explanation, a total silence interrupted only by signals such as bells, clapping, and glances from the teacher”( pg 166) . This is what creates obedience. Students would have had to have learned the signals in order to respond to them automatically. If a student has not responded to the signal, the signal is then repeated once again.
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
More easily understood Foucault is presenting forth the idea of hegemony, or the thought that power structures exist because everyone buys into them. For example, women’s dress in business situations. For the most part, women are expected to dress in nigh uncomfortable clothes in the work place: skirts, heels, makeup (to a degree). Women accept this, men accept this, and everyone in society accepts this as a norm. Because it is seen as “normal” rather than something forced upon women by a group, other women will police their peers: sharp looks, snide comments, etc. This norm is policed by those who are trapped by it and they never think about why it is they are required to dress as they
It was found that the reasons for obedience are not only psychological but sociological as well. Milgram provides the idea of division of labor. As long as the product comes from an assembly line, there is no one person to blame.
“It was not until one reached the sixth grade that one learned anything of value” (Lee 49). As said in To Kill a Mockingbird the children were not taught how to write until the third grade (Lee 13). Grade levels from kindergarten and beyond begin teaching children the necessities for a successful life in today’s society while information taught back then was not useful. Children needed to be taught skills that would assist them in their daily life and communicating with the people they have to interact with. “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-’ ‘Sir.’ ‘-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it (Lee 30). ” If a child was to misbehave or get in trouble at school they were given a physical punishment such as a slap with a ruler or stood up in a corner. “Miss Caroline picked up her ruler, gave me half a dozen quick little pets, then told me to stand in the corner” (Lee 16). Today, punishing a child in a physical way such as hitting them, is considered illegal and would result in consequences to the teacher or educator who committed the action. If a child is being disrespectful or causing a disturbance they are sent to administration and given a write up or sent to ISS for the day.
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience.” From Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Tenth edition. Edited by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman Publishers, pp.358-371, 2008.
In this article, Harry Gracey made observations of a kindergarten classroom daily routine. Gracey implied that kindergarten is like boot camp for the entire educational system. It’s geared toward teaching children about learning rules, guidelines, and procedures that they would be expected to follow throughout their academic careers. Students are instructed to appropriately conduct themselves behaviorally and attitudinal for the “student role”, which, Gracey argues is to follow classroom procedures. This article indicates that a rigid social structure in the classroom, a way to successfully control and monitor the kid’s behaviors (Gracey 8).
We must see then that the child should accustom himself to act in accordance with maxims and not from certain ever-changing springs of action (211).” Maxims, as distinct from disciplinary rules “proceed from the understanding of man (211).” Thus where rules say a child will be punished for “x” and rewarded for “y,” maxims of right and wrong are things one should understand automatically, regardless of punishment or reward. In following a maxim of, say, “do not lie, cheat, or murder”—one does not lie, cheat or murder, not because they fear punishment or seek reward, but because they know such things are inherently wrong.
Restrictions are placed on what and how we are taught. Plato said that the prisoners, in the cave, “have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them” (Plato 1). The physical restraint also reflects the mental restraint the prisoners faced. They are limited to only seeing what is before them, rather than what is surrounding them.
In Milgram’s article, he discusses the basic principle of obedience and the necessity of such behavior in the structure of society and all social life. For many people, obedience is a deeply engraved behavior pattern, and very well a strong impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct (Milgram 579). Milgram set up an experiment at Yale University to see how much pain one would inflict on another simply because of being commanded to do so. Authority won more than not.
“Discipline is the process of teaching children the values and normative behaviours of their society. It is the guidance of children’s moral, emotional and physical development, enabling them to take responsibility for themselves when they are older.” This quote by Smith (2004) from (Learning Theories and the Family, 2013), shows why behaviour is worth researching.
Discipline can be a very controversial topic that can raise many questions. According to Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux in “Discipline—To What End?” “In a society in which many people are socially mobile and may live as adults in a social or cultural environment very different from the one in which they grew up, old forms of discipline may be wholly unsuited to new situations.” What they mean is that the discipline parents used on their children may not be the same discipline that those children should use on their own kids. In many situations, I agree that the discipline used today by parents is different from how they were disciplined in certain situations. But on the other hand, I also believe that some techniques are very similar, if not the same.
Growing up as children, from a very early stage in life we are taught by our parents and guardians to follow the simple rules set in the family setting as well as being respectful to everyone. As a child if one misbehaved or failed to live by the code of conduct, they ought to be disciplined in order to get back on track. Discipline simply meant to impart knowledge and skills. Many times however, discipline is mistaken for punishment and control and this poses a great challenge to parents on effective methods of instilling discipline in their children from one stage of life to the next for instance; how parents ought to discipline older children varies from the way they are required to handle toddlers.
Power finds its way into our daily lives; Foucault illustrates this in the example of education, saying that school succeeds “in making children’s bodies the object of highly complex systems of manipulation and conditioning” (Rainbow, p.66-67). This means that these children grow up to become, for the most part, law abiding citizens, aware of the social norms and relationships of power. Foucault explains this following of the rules as a product of “studiously cultivated fear of criminals” meaning that we “tolerate the maintenance, or rather the reinforcement, of the judicial and police apparatuses” (Rainbow, p.72).
The body has always been a broad and dense subject to study, and by the end of the twentieth century the body had become a significant theme of political, social, cultural and economic values; whereas the body has emerged in the most recent years as problematic in society . In modern society the representation of the ‘perfect’ and ‘healthy’ body have become a mainstream ideology where body issues are everywhere particularly for the young adult female and pre-adolescent girls, for they are always being told how to look and be perfect in numerous media outlets including; television, magazines, adverts, and film. However, the ‘perfect’ body is hard to achieve, and many individuals are born with disablements that make them, what is called, ‘Other’.