Body-Centeredness In
Modernity
Michel Foucault:
Discourse Theory
Foucault: 1926 - 1984
Foucault’s Life
• French philosopher, sociologist, and historian.
• Best known for distancing himself from
Structuralism in his explorations of psychiatry,
medicine, the prison system, and human
sexuality.
• Influenced by German philosopher Nietzsche
• Became a social activist beginning in 1968.
Discourse: Departing Structuralism
• Structuralism holds that meaning is (re)produced
through various practices, phenomena &
activities.
• Activities including food prep & serving rituals,
religious rites, games, books, films, etc. transmit
deeply embedded symbolic structures, which
produce meaning within a culture. What are
some of these?
Discourse: Departing Structuralism
• This idea of symbolic cultural structures was
popularized by French anthropologist
Claude Levi-Strauss in the 60s & 70s.
• Structuralism amounts to a
conceptualization of the universal
structures of the mind – how we think.
• We make “sense” based on pairs of binary
oppositions such as hot-cold, male-female,
culture-nature, cooked-raw, etc.
Discourse: Departing Structuralism
• Foucault decided instead that what truly
defines us are the narratives, or stories, a
culture tells itself about the world.
• These stories use systems of ideas, attitudes,
courses of action, beliefs, and practices that
“create” the world as we know it.
• This idea was called Discourse Theory, &
affirmed that each historical period has its
own story of what the world is & how it
works.
Body-Centeredness
• Foucault felt that the current Discourse
defining humanity has to do with the Body
– everything about who and how we are is
understood along medical/physical lines.
• We make sense of our life through our body
– everything we experience is explained
this way.
• Good vs. Evil has become Health vs.
Sickness, the primary concern of our age.
The Medicalization of Experience
• Foucault thought that every aspect of modern
life plugs in one way or another w/ the Health
Care System:
• Childbirth
• Education
• Marriage & The Family
• Old Age
• Death
Body Fetishism
• This focus on the body also manifests as an
obsession with our physical appearance.
• Living a good/happy life becomes less
important, as we focus more on
material/physical virtues rather than spiritual
ones.
• In modernity, we develop our bodies, decorate
them, clothe them, apply various lotions and
paints – all to convince the world that we are
beautiful: that we are healthy.
Body Fetishism, continued
• According to sociologist Pip Jones, not
only do fashion and non-prescribed
medications contribute to this idea of
healthiness, but body fetishism “… is
rampant, fuelled by the beauty industry,
the fashion industry, the youth industry,
the diet industry, and the fitness
industry.” (Jones, p. 130)
Capitalism as the Root Cause
• Foucault posits that capitalism and the
organized, mechanistic market system
requires healthy workers, with healthy, fit
bodies in order to maximize production.
• It thus becomes no wonder that our culture
focuses on the materialistic here and now, as
opposed to other belief systems that
preferred a more spiritualistic approach to
meaning.
Female Sexuality As Property
• This can be seen in pre-modern societies
which lack the infrastructure of our modern
times: individuals have to rely on the family or
kin-group for basic life necessities.
• As a result, the female ability to give birth
became a central issue, as did marriage.
• Without marriage, the male can produce no
legitimate heirs to inherit his wealth when he
dies, and so the kin-group dies with him.
Female Body Regulation
• As a result, the woman’s body belongs not to
herself but to her kin-group: biology and
reproduction are linked very closely to
“property production, management, and
distribution” (Jones, p. 133) of wealth.
• Group survival depends on the birth of heirs
to inherit group wealth and pass it on to
subsequent generations.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
• A remarkable form of Regulation is FGM:
according to the World Health Organization
(WHO), some 130 million women have had
their genitals altered by physical, surgical
intervention.
• This includes circumcision, the excision of
the clitoris, as well as infibulation, the
sewing up of the labia.
FGM, continued
• By mutilating the female reproductive organs
in this manner, a woman’s sexuality is
seriously curbed or eliminated, ensuring her
virginity.
• This affects property ownership since now any
husband can be assured that his heirs are
indeed his own, and so the kin-group’s wealth
is protected for the next generation.
Modern Body Regulation
• Female Body Regulation continues in modern
society as moral sanctions regarding sexuality:
• Promiscuity (having non-monogamous
relationships), bearing children outside of
marriage, and same-sex partnerships have all
been eschewed by mainstream Western
religious traditions
• Notice how each of these different lifestyles
threatens the transmission of property.
Discourse & Language
• Clues to Discourse Theory in action can be
reduced to the very words chosen to describe
reality, and how they are used.
• For instance, recently men have begun to be
described as promiscuous in the manner
women have been described for generations,
although the idea of the non-sexual
“frigid/prudish” man still awaits.
Discourse & Language, cont.
• The sexual power structure can be seen to be
in a state of change (Berger’s 3-Part Process)
most clearly, however, in the homosexual
community:
• What were once derogatory terms regarding
same-sex relationships have given way to
common, accepted terms such as “gay” or
“lesbian,” showing a new respect not evident
in years past.