Chris Doss wrote:
> Foucault I'm not so
> sure about since he was working on a more social level. Plus I
> haven't read much Foucault. But the possibility of escape from the
> system would kind of contradict the grim, gothic horror atmosphere of
> Foucaultworld with its lurid focus on MADNESS!, SEX!, and DISCIPLINED
> BODIES WRITHING ON THE GROUND! ;)
As Miles said, you should probably actually read some Foucault, but, apparently by sheer dumb luck, you have hit on something here. In fact, this was in some ways the gist of Deleuze's critique of Foucault: that his concepts of power and resistance were such that the former was primary and determinative and the latter was secondary and reactive. Politics was what happened in the reaction, while escape was only possible by the intervention of a heroic subject. In this sense--very limited sense--Foucault had more in common with the Leninism and the Marxist parties than he would have admitted. Deleuze says that Foucault later, in the second and third volumes of the sexual history, reversed this polarity, making resistance come first, making desire constitutive of politics. I'm less than convinced, but that's what Deleuze said.