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Foucault's View Of Power Essay

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Power is an essential aspect that should not be neglected and assumed in our societies. It is therefore the responsibility of every individual to understand how power operates, its methods and goals. Individuals can only understand the argument about power by clearly analyzing some of the insightful theories that they come upon. In this paper I will speak about two essays written about power by Berger and Foucault. In the articles "ways of seeing" Berger is very analytical when he explains about power. According to him, he links power to art and claims that “the entire art of the past has now become a political issue”. His argument is that individuals in higher power have the tendency of blocking their subjects from seeing the real picture. …show more content…

According to Foucault, he explains the function of power as to that provides security and order. Foucault expands on this matter in his article when he explains about the plague that has come to the city and everybody is under surveillance. He said, “Inspection functions ceaselessly” (Foucault 1). The gaze is everywhere and a group of militia, commanded by good officers and men of substance, guards the gate. This is an illustration that one of the significance of power is that is should provide a sense of security to the city dwellers. Also it group of militia ensures that they prompt obedience of the people in the courts. This means that people in power especially the magistrates should ensure that order is maintained and justice is given. The syndic had the daily responsibility to ensure that there is obedience to laws that govern them. On the other theory about "ways of seeing", Berger view about the function of power is totally different from that of Foucault but it compliments that of Foucault. According to Berger, the function of power is to provide direction to those who are not in power. In his theory, he explains that “Soon after we can see, we are aware that we can also be seen” (Berger 2). This means that when a person is in power, he can now lead other people because of the power they have, meaning they control what everyone else can

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