[lbo-talk] internally riven

Eric Beck ersatzdog at gmail.com
Mon Apr 13 10:51:12 PDT 2009


On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 8:20 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> Years ago, I read a paper whose author escapes me, arguing that power
> functioned for Foucault in a way similar to the way value did for Marx -
> it's not a static thing, but only exists in circulation.

This is exactly right. Power is not administered, though given most of what was published by Foucault in his lifetime, it's kinda possible to see how people might think that. But with the publication of the College of France lectures over the last few years, it's easier to see how important this point was for Foucault. It also explains his turn to the subject, or rather, subjectivation, over the last years of his life. He thought his concentration on institutions of power made it seem like it was wholly an administered thing. As I said the other day, I'm not convinced by what he lived to give us on the matter. Unlike, I would add, Deleuze and Guattari.



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