I wanted to publish part of my paper on Michel Foucault's discussion on challenging societal norms and the common discourse. These are some of the ideas from a class that really impressed me and shaped my graduate experience.
For thousands of years man has struggled to define the world and human experiences within it. Greek philosophers were some of the first to theorize about human relationships and attempt to view the world though logical reasoning. In the 16th and 17th century, scientific objective interpretations of the world were emphasized by the Enlightenment thinkers. Objectivism is defined as viewing the world in a fixed way with a universal truth that is waiting to be discovered through empirical means. Postmodern theory was developed as a counter to the modernist objective notions of the Enlightenment. Postmodernists refuted binary categories and objective viewings of truth and knowledge, stressing subjectivity and defining truth by its historical constructs. Popularized by Michel Foucault, postmodern theory provides differing ways to view the world and finding plural forms of truth.
In this paper, I plan to first further define postmodern theory. Secondly, I plan to examine how postmodern feminism that derived from postmodern theory contributes to modern day social work. As social work moves further away from only based in scientific research and practice it is necessary to be creative and recognize our role in removing dominant discourses at work in our society. To be effective in social work today, we must find alternative ways of knowing and learning so that we can stand up to dominant norms and provide new resources that may advance social justice.
Postmodernism theory is becoming well established as an alternative approach to social work applications. Modernists viewed human relationships in a categorical binary or fixed lens. Postmodern theorists argued that this view is limiting and ignoring the complexities of human relationships over time. Postmodernism aims to remove categories and therefore engage in a more comprehensive study of a human being and the diverse self. It seeks to open up possibilities and offer new perspectives on traditionally held beliefs.
Michel Foucault was one of the first established postmodern thinkers of the 20th century. He founded new ways of understanding power through relationships and discovered applications for the social work field. In Reading Foucault for Social Work, Irving argues that Michel Foucault believed that the postmodern lens didn't immediately provide guidance on the conduct of social work but believed that radical questioning and fearless thinking could lead to a deeper understanding of the world (Irving, 1999). Unlike scientific objectivism that in the age of Enlightenment led to viewing the world in a fixed empirical manner, postmodernism thought engages in varying discourses, as Foucault calls them, that attempt to posit uncertainty of what may be considered as absolute truths. By that definition, everything in life is subjective and fluid vs. objective and stationary.
Another major component in defining postmodernism is to understand that history is shaped by context and constructed by language and invented by the participants. Postmodernism theory postulates that there are no known truths and this idea was first introduced by Friedrick Nietzche. Nietzche questioned the modernists of the Enlightenment by stating that all knowledge was created and not permanent. Knowledge can constantly be changing based on the situation and therefore it is important to fully understand a person's condition before making statements that assert your knowledge about a person in a particular environment.
Defining Foucault's notion of power is an integral concept of postmodern thought. Foucault saw power as not located in economic or political structures but rather as being spread out over a whole social system. Power only existed in the form of relationships (Chambon, Epstein, Irving, 1999). Power does not necessitate domination over a particular object but can regulate possibilities for changes in structure. Power also requires resistance in some form, or as Foucault theorized, wherever there is power there will be resistance. Resistance was also thought to have a multitude of forms as it was to be understood that without multiple forms, power and resistance may fall into the binary categories that Foucault attempted to dismantle in society.
My understanding of postmodernism based on the readings is that binary categories lead to understanding the world in a very fixed manner and aim to control a person's way of being. Our view of individuals as argued by postmodernists should emphasize multiplicity and diversity. We should recognize that in order to truly examine someone we must look at the social and cultural constructs that are acting on them. Postmodernist thought gave way to Postmodernist Feminism and allows for approaches to treatment of women to represent their varied interests.
Postmodern feminism evolved as a counter to the essentialist notion that considers gender to be a fixed biological trait. Postmodern feminists argue that gender and sex are not natural but socially constructed. Especially the third wave of feminism sought out to celebrate diversity and recognize that we cannot use one specific term "woman" for all women but need to delegate the term to other forms; middle-class women, African-American women, poor Latina women, etc. Postmodern feminism holds an ideal to remove the binary categories that often oppress women and make direct comparisons to men. It seeks to celebrate the diversity of women yet unite them into a political fight for equality and social justice. As referenced by the lecture on Postmodern Feminism, "women's oppression is produced by patriarchal capitalism" (Nylund, 2010) and within that patriarchy more women are subjected to prostitution, domestic work and marriage/childcare. In order for women to be rid of these categorical roles--opposite of traditional men's roles, the dominant discourse must be challenged.
Discourses, as defined by Foucault, "are structures of knowledge and systematic ways of carving out reality that characterize particular historical moments. The embodied acts of discourse, or discursive practices, provide parameters for what can be known, said, and thought" (Chambon, Epstein, Irving, 1999 p. 272). The common discourse on women in the 19th century is they were not analytical enough to understand politics to be able to make an informed decision to vote. In the middle of the 20th century it was stated that a woman's place was within the home and taking care of the children. The postmodern feminism movement has aimed to change the dominant discourse perpetuated by a patriarchal society so that women can be defined in a multitude of ways that transform the dominant ways of thinking.
Postmodern feminist theory provides a basis to alter the power relationships that are created by the language within the dominant discourse. For example, it may be important to reconstruct the idea that women are dependent either upon welfare services or men. Language can thus be reconstructed to challenge what Foucault called regimes of truth or dominant norms. It has been argued that "language and discourse, as socially constructed, can be politically contested and interrupted in service of emancipatory change". In order to make the changes in the discourse, society must reflectively examine the regimes of truth at work and provide diverse approaches to alter the current models in social work. Postmodernism feminists provide an opportunity for social workers to contribute to social change.....
2 comments:
These are interesting philosophical thoughts. I have been reading some of the ideas Maren was having along the same lines in trying to understand the work she wanted to do in Australia for her Ph.D. research. The foundation for that work was along the lines of Paulo Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed. There are certainly criticisms of these ideas and they systems they encourage, but still is thought provoking. From chapter 2:
It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.
The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the student's creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed. The oppressors use their "humanitarianism" to preserve a profitable situation. Thus they react almost instinctively against any experiment in education which stimulates the critical faculties and is not content with a partial view of reality always seeks out the ties which link one point to another and one problem to another.
Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in "changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them," (1) for the more the oppressed can be led to adapt to that situation, the more easily they can be dominated. To achieve this the oppressors use the banking concept of education in conjunction with a paternalistic social action apparatus, within which the oppressed receive the euphemistic title of "welfare recipients." They are treated as individual cases, as marginal persons who deviate from the general configuration of a "good, organized and just" society. The oppressed are regarded as the pathology of the healthy society which must therefore adjust these "incompetent and lazy" folk to its own patterns by changing their mentality. These marginals need to be "integrated," "incorporated" into the healthy society that they have "forsaken."
[Footnote #1: Simone de Beauvoir. La Pensee de Droite, Aujord'hui (Paris); ST, El Pensamiento politico de la Derecha (Buenos Aires, 1963), p. 34.
The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not "marginals," are not living "outside" society. They have always been "inside" the structure which made them "beings for others." The solution is not to 'integrate" them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become "beings for themselves." Such transformation, of course, would undermine the oppressors' purposes; hence their utilization of the banking concept of education to avoid the threat of student conscientizacao.
The banking approach to adult education, for example, will never propose to students that they critically consider reality. It will deal instead with such vital questions as whether Roger gave green grass to the goat, and insist upon the importance of learning that, on the contrary, Roger gave green grass to the rabbit. The "humanism" of the banking approach masks the effort to turn women and men into automatons -- the very negation of their ontological vocation to be more fully human.
Of course religion is the main source of patriarchy and the subjugation of women; and those that participate in any religious activity are guilty of participation by association. It can be difficulty to transcend the indoctrination that you received from your parents and other adulst when you were a child, but in my opinion you aren't truly acting as an enligtened adult until you transcend those ideas.
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