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Full Idea
Power in Western capitalism was denounced by the Marxists as class domination; but the mechanics of power in themselves were never analysed.
Gist of Idea
Marxists denounced power as class domination, but never analysed its mechanics
Source
Michel Foucault (Truth and Power (interview) [1976], p.117)
Book Ref
Foucault,Michel: 'Essential Works 1954-1984 3: Power', ed/tr. Faubion,J [Penguin 2002], p.117
A Reaction
This seems to pinpoint Foucault's distinctive contribution to political thought, and it makes him one of the most interesting thinkers in the area. It is a good approach to history, but also to the role of power as a background to conventional thought.
| 15037 | Why does knowledge appear in sudden bursts, and not in a smooth continuous development? [Foucault] |
| 15038 | Structuralism systematically abstracted the event from sciences, and even from history [Foucault] |
| 15039 | History lacks 'meaning', but it can be analysed in terms of its struggles [Foucault] |
| 15040 | Marxists denounced power as class domination, but never analysed its mechanics [Foucault] |
| 15041 | Power doesn't just repress, but entices us with pleasure, artefacts, knowledge and discourse [Foucault] |
| 15042 | Truth doesn't arise from solitary freedom, but from societies with constraints [Foucault] |
| 15043 | Every society has a politics of truth, concerning its values, functions, prestige and mechanisms [Foucault] |
| 15044 | 'Truth' is the procedures for controlling which statements are acceptable [Foucault] |