MiniLesson: Disciplined Bodies
Summary
TLDRThis mini-lesson discusses the concept of disciplinary power, as introduced by Michel Foucault. It explains how societal institutions such as schools, media, and law shape our understanding of what is 'normal' and 'abnormal.' These norms are ingrained in us from a young age, influencing behaviors and perceptions through subtle regulation and surveillance. The lesson emphasizes that these norms are constructed and can be resisted, empowering individuals to challenge systems of inequality and create new definitions of what is considered normal.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Foucault's concept of 'disciplinary power' explains how societal norms are taught through repeated regulation and surveillance of behaviors.
- 📚 From a young age, individuals learn normalized ideas from various institutions like schools, families, media, healthcare, religion, and laws.
- 🏷️ Normal behaviors are labeled as such if they conform to societal expectations, while nonconforming behaviors are labeled as 'other' or 'abnormal.'
- 📜 Disciplinary power operates subtly, training people to accept behaviors as natural or innate without them realizing they are being trained.
- 🚗 A simple example of disciplinary power is adjusting one’s behavior, like slowing down when seeing a speed limit sign, even without direct enforcement.
- 👦👧 Gender roles are enforced from childhood, as seen in scenarios like separating boys and girls into different lines based on expected norms.
- ⚖️ Disciplinary power doesn’t just come from authority figures; individuals who follow the rules also give legitimacy and power to those rules.
- 🔍 People constantly check their behavior against social cues and expectations to either blend in or stand out, reflecting internalized disciplinary power.
- 🔄 The idea of 'normal' is socially constructed, meaning it can be challenged and changed, offering room for resistance and creating new norms.
- 🌍 Systems of injustice, inequality, and oppression are created by humans, so there is potential for humans to dismantle them and construct new, just systems.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the lesson on 'disciplined bodies'?
-The lesson focuses on how we define and label bodies as 'normal' or 'abnormal' based on societal norms and how these labels are enforced through disciplinary power.
What are some of the institutions that teach us ideas about what is normal?
-Institutions like schools, families, social media, medicine, religion, laws, the criminal justice system, and consumer culture all play a role in teaching us ideas about what is considered normal.
What happens if someone does not behave according to the rules taught by these institutions?
-If someone does not behave according to the established rules, they are labeled as 'other,' 'different,' or 'abnormal.'
What is Michel Foucault's concept of 'disciplinary power'?
-Foucault's concept of disciplinary power refers to the repeated regulation and surveillance of behaviors and ideas, which shape our understanding of what is considered normal.
How does the example of seeing a speed limit sign illustrate disciplinary power?
-When drivers see a speed limit sign, they often adjust their behavior (e.g., slowing down) even if there is no visible authority enforcing the limit. This reflects how disciplinary power influences behavior through the possibility of being monitored.
How does the classroom example of boys and girls lining up illustrate disciplinary power?
-The example shows how children are taught gender norms, such as boys lining up on one side and girls on the other, and how deviations from these norms are corrected, reinforcing societal expectations of gender behavior.
What role do children play in enforcing disciplinary power in the classroom example?
-Children enforce disciplinary power by following the rules and giving legitimacy to them. This reinforces the power of the norms, even without explicit authority intervention.
Why is disciplinary power so effective, according to the lesson?
-Disciplinary power is effective because it operates even when people are unaware of it. People internalize the norms and regulate their own behavior to conform without needing external enforcement.
What is the lesson’s perspective on the concept of 'normal' and 'abnormal'?
-The lesson argues that what is labeled as 'normal' is a societal construct, and what is deemed 'abnormal' is no less real or imaginable. Both categories are socially created and maintained.
What is the feminist perspective on the systems that create norms of 'normal' and 'abnormal'?
-From a feminist perspective, recognizing that these systems are human-made implies that they can be changed. If we create systems of inequality and oppression, we also have the power to resist and create new systems and norms.
Outlines
📘 Introduction to Disciplined Bodies
This introduction sets the stage for a discussion on how we define and label bodies, particularly what is considered 'normal' and 'abnormal.' The speaker emphasizes that by the end of the lesson, the concept of 'disciplinary power' should be understood, particularly how various societal institutions (schools, media, healthcare, etc.) teach us what behaviors are deemed acceptable or deviant from a young age.
🏛 Institutions Shape Our Norms
The paragraph explores how societal institutions, like schools, media, and religion, teach us norms and rules. We internalize these lessons so deeply that conforming behaviors are considered 'normal' while deviations are labeled 'abnormal' or 'other.' This conditioning starts early, and the speaker points out that these ideas of what’s normal are socially constructed.
📖 Foucault's Disciplinary Power
Michel Foucault's concept of 'disciplinary power' is introduced here, explaining that power operates through discipline, and the term ‘discipline’ refers to the regulation and surveillance of behavior. Foucault argued that people learn what is 'normal' through repetitive social training, often without realizing it. This subtle form of control becomes naturalized in everyday life.
🚓 The Speed Limit Analogy
This analogy explains how disciplinary power works in everyday life. A driver may not be actively thinking about their speed until they see a sign that reminds them they could be monitored. This reminder changes behavior, illustrating how the mere possibility of surveillance can enforce conformity to rules, similar to social norms dictating acceptable behavior.
👫 Gender Segregation in Classrooms
A classroom scenario is used to illustrate how norms are enforced. Children are told to line up by gender, and when one child breaks the rule, they are corrected. This shows how disciplining starts early, reinforcing the idea that certain names, behaviors, and identities belong to specific genders. These norms are imposed subtly yet powerfully.
⚖️ Power Beyond the Teacher’s Authority
Disciplinary power is shown as not only coming from authority figures like teachers, but also from the children who follow and legitimize the rules. The students’ compliance reinforces the power of the rules, making disciplinary power an invisible yet potent force that operates even when we are unaware of it.
👀 Self-Regulation Through Social Cues
This part elaborates on how individuals constantly look to others for behavioral cues to either blend in or stand out. The idea is that what is considered abnormal is not inherently wrong, but it stands in opposition to constructed norms. The speaker highlights how these societal expectations guide our self-regulation.
🔄 Constructing and Resisting Norms
The speaker encourages critical thinking, particularly from a feminist perspective, about how we collectively create norms around gender, sexuality, and other social roles. Since humans create these systems, there is the potential for change and resistance. This final paragraph emphasizes that if we can create systems of oppression, we can also create new, more just systems.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Disciplinary Power
💡Normal vs. Abnormal
💡Hegemony
💡Michel Foucault
💡Institutions
💡Surveillance
💡Resistance
💡Socialization
💡Gender Roles
💡Collective Power
Highlights
Introduction to the concept of 'disciplined bodies' and how we define and label normal vs abnormal.
Explanation that normalized behaviors are learned from institutions such as schools, families, social media, healthcare, religion, laws, and the criminal justice system.
The idea that people are labeled normal if they follow the rules and abnormal if they act outside of these rules.
Introduction to Michel Foucault's concept of 'disciplinary power,' which is the repeated regulation and surveillance of behaviors and ideas.
Discipline is seen not just as punishment but as a method of training behaviors to the point that people think it is natural or innate.
Example of a speed limit sign affecting behavior, illustrating how even the perception of being watched disciplines people.
A preschool example where gendered lining up teaches children to follow normative gender roles, showing how disciplinary power is learned from a young age.
Children who follow rules, like lining up by gender, legitimize those rules, thus reinforcing disciplinary power.
Disciplinary power is so pervasive that it functions even when people are unaware of its presence.
The concept that what is considered 'abnormal' is not false or less valid than what is labeled 'normal.'
The course will explore the constructed nature of societal norms, particularly around sexuality and gender.
As a feminist, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding that humans create systems of normalcy, which means they can also change them.
The possibility of resisting and changing systems of injustice, inequality, and oppression because they are human-made.
The hopeful message that if systems of oppression are created by society, then new, more just systems can also be created.
Closing sentiment that we have the power to create 'new worlds and new normals' by recognizing and challenging the systems that shape our behaviors.
Transcripts
hello welcome to this mini lesson on
disciplined bodies
in this mini lesson we are going to
discuss how we define and name bodies
and specifically how we label what is
normal and how we label what is abnormal
by the end of the lesson you should be
able to articulate in your own words the
concepts of disciplinary power so let's
get started
as we've discussed a lot in this class
already many of the ideas that we just
assume are normal have been taught to us
from a very early age sometimes even
before we have language for the thing um
that has been taught to us we learn
these ideas and continue to learn these
ideas from various institutions
including schools families social media
um
medicine and healthcare religion laws
the criminal justice system
movie music consumer culture right so
like the isles and target that
distinguish between girl and boy toys
and girl and boy
clothing
from these institutions we learn
normalized and hegemonic ideas of what
it means to be a particular gender how
to behave in terms of sexuality and race
how to interact in the world in general
if you follow the rules and if you
behave in ways that is readable based
off of these lessons
you and your behavior are are labeled
normal if you don't
behave
or if you act outside of the rules that
have been taught to you then you are
labeled as other
different or abnormal
so this phenomenon this um training of
um
what gets to be called normal or what
gets to be labeled as abnormal this
phenomenon is what french theorist
michelle foucault called disciplinary
power
and in his book discipline and punish
which he published in 1975
foucault argued that power is exercised
through discipline now you might think
of discipline as what happens to you
when you mess up
or when you get in trouble
um you are disciplined by your parents
or by teachers or by law enforcement
how we use the term discipline in this
class is related to that form of
disciplining
for foucault
um the term just discipline meant the
repeated regulation and surveillance of
behaviors and ideas what is considered
normal is trained into you over and over
again to the point that you don't even
see or recognize that you are being
trained you think that the behavior that
you are enacting is just the natural
or just the innate way to do things
for example right so it's a simple
example you're driving down the freeway
and you're just booking it you're not
really paying any attention right and
then out of the corner of your eye you
see a speed limit sign or you see a sign
that the speed is being monitored by
aircraft now you don't know if there's
like a helicopter
clocking you from above but what do you
do anyway you check your speedometer
and you possibly slow down
those signs
that visual reminder that you could be
caught
actually changes your behavior
now imagine a similar situation in
social interactions
um a preschool teacher tells the class
to line up to go to recess
girls i want you to line up on the right
side boys i want you to line up on the
left side for most of the kids they get
in the correct line right away there's
no there's little or no fuss all the
tiffany's go to the right and all the
matthews go to the left
but then one matthew goes to the right
first the other kids laugh because
matt's in the wrong line
and then the teacher says something like
matt on the left please or
maybe even more forcefully matthew you
can't go until you stop we we all can't
go until you stop playing around
disciplining um what's happening way
before the reprimand right
we have been disciplined into thinking
that tiffany is a normal girl's name and
matt is a normal boy's name gender
segregation and how kids are supposed to
line up right that is a form of
disciplining
the act of lining up itself right one
person behind the other to dictate order
right
all of that is exhibiting disciplinary
power and that power is not just coming
from the teacher down to the children
right the children by following the
rules correctly are also giving
legitimacy to the rules thereby giving
the rules power
disciplinary power happens
whether we are aware of it or not
um
that's what makes it even more powerful
right so look at this cartoon
none of the individuals are overtly
doing anything but they are interpreting
each other's behaviors in a way to check
their own behaviors
we look around us constantly to get
clues about how we are supposed to be
how we're supposed to be behaving in the
world so that we either blend in or we
like stand out
and it's this last part that i really
want to uplift right the standing out
what we call abnormal is no more false
or unimaginable than what we
conceptualize as normal
um
that's going to be a running theme
throughout this course
we as parts of societies create systems
and rules that constitute normal
sexuality normal gender roles etc we
collectively create create construct
these systems
and as a feminist it's important for me
to realize that fact right that we
have some that's my daughter that we
have some say in how we construct these
systems
because that allows me to understand as
a feminist that we have the opportunity
of change we can resist we can fight
back if humans create these systems um
that label one thing normal and another
thing abnormal if we create the systems
of injustice and inequality if we create
the systems of oppression then we can
create new systems new worlds and new
normals all right thanks y'all
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)