>Incidentally, the Foucaudian notion of
>society-as-ideological-straightjacket Miles appears to be depending on
>derives from Heidegger, and is not particularly leftist.
it's not Foucauldian. It is, as Postone points out, a Marxist analysis -- an immanent critique. It may derive from Heideigger, but the relevant issue is that Foucault is not claiming that society is a "straightjacket."
But, that out of the way, this is what Foucault says:
"I do not think that it is possible to say that one thing is of the order of "liberation" and another is of the order of "oppression" . . . No matter how terrifying a given system may be, there always remain the possibilities of resistance,disobedience, and oppositional groupings. On the other hand, I do not think that there is anything that is functionally ... absolutely liberating. Liberty is a **practice** ... The liberty of men is never assured by the institutions and laws that are intended to guarantee them... Not because they are ambiguous, but simply because "liberty" is what must be exercised ... The guarantee of freedom is freedom. (that is, the practice of freedom - shag)" (From 'Two Lectures' in _Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972 - 1977_, edited by Colin Gordon.
In that, Foucault is espousing some pretty standard stuff within sociological theory. See for example, Michael Burawoy's _Manufacturing Consent_ and John Gaventa's _Power and Powerlessness: quiescence and rebellion in an Appalachian valley_.
p.s. as for your concerns about Christian ideals in the civil rights struggle portrayed as -- gasp! -- reinscribing oppression, you only have to look as far as the criticisms of blacks who broke away from the civil rights model for radical critiques of the assimilationism and the "i want a piece of the pie, too" nature of that movement. In turn, there's a slew of critiques about the assimilationism and nationalism inherent in the Black Power movement. The ideas Miles presents didn't come out of his ass. Rather, you can get such a critique straight out of the standard historical accounts of the anti-slavery, anti-Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and Black Power movements spoken about and written by participants of those movements themselves.
I learned of those critiques -- in a very obvious way -- not from reading Foucault, but from reading _Eyes on the Prize_ and watching the PBS documentary in the early 1990s. But I also encountered them long before, reading Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks, Angela Davis, etc. In other words, from reading feminist critics of identity political struggles.
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