Captain Planet, Foucault

Foucault’s article Discipline and Punish was confusing at first. He uses the plague to illustrate his theory on power and discipline. The plague claimed the lives of many of its victims. In the wake of this deadly illness, the hierarchy of the town claimed power. The plague continued to strike the people of the town, and likewise, the power and discipline of the dominant class continued to rule over the lower class. Consequently, the state became a disciplined society. Foucault states that “against an extraordinary evil, power is mobilized; it makes itself everywhere present and visible” (99). Due to the fatality of the plague, the hierarchy used discipline as a tactic to control both those who had the disease, and the disease itself. Furthermore, Foucalt says that there are “two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, or separating out their dangerous mixtures” (96). The town exercised their power over the people of the town by control. Those with the plague were forced into confinement, separating out the ‘dangerous mixtures’ of the society. The power and control set into place by the dominant class relate to Althusser’s notion of the ISA’s (Ideological State Apparatus). Foucault makes a specific statement, saying that discipline is not an institution or an apparatus. Discipline can be taken over “by apparatuses that have made discipline their principle of internal functioning… or finally by state apparatuses whose major, if not exclusive function is to assure that discipline reigns over society as a whole” (100). Foucault is illustrating that discipline is “an ‘anatomy’ of power” (100) and that it works on us because of its quality of control. ISA’s work on the level of ideology, meaning they affect individuals subconsciously. The frightening part of ISA’s are that they controls us just as much as RSA’s (Repressive State Apparatus). Foucault is saying that discipline and ISA’s are not one in the same, and he states that side with conviction.