NCJ Number
125494
Journal
Journal of Law and Society Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1990) Pages: 170-193
Date Published
1990
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article explains Michel Foucault's analysis of the law/power relationship in the areas of reason, science, and exclusion; law and discipline; and sexuality and the discourse of repression.
Abstract
In his discourses on the law-power relationship, Foucault focuses on particular institutions and specific historical changes. His studies demonstrate that the interrelationships among legal discourses, various forms of knowledge, political economy, techniques of power, and institutions of social control form a logic of power that is best understood by analyzing its detailed applications. This article's discussion of Foucault's analysis of specific applications of law and power begins under the rubric of "Reason, Science, and Exclusion." This encompasses the topics of philosophy and science; reason, madness, and confinement; the law and medicine; humans' understanding of themselves; and discourse and exclusion. A discussion of Foucault's analysis of law and discipline addresses the focus of law and power on the body of the accused criminal; the union of law, political economy, and political technology in expanding power; capitalism and labor control; the function of discipline; the use of prisons; and behavioral norms and examinations. The article concludes with a discussion of Foucault's writings on sexuality and the discourse of repression. 85 notes.