Resistance is internal to power relations, which never totalize
Evidence
The field in which power is deployed is therefore not that of a doleful and stable domination: “The struggle is everywhere. …at every moment, we move from rebellion to domination, from domination to rebellion, and it is all this perpetual agitation that I would like to try to bring out.” … In The History of Sexuality Foucault asks: History being the ruse of reason, is power the ruse of history, and does it always emerge the winner? Quite the contrary: “This would be to misunderstand the strictly relational character of power relationships. Their existence depends upon a multiplicity of points of resistance: these play the role of adversary, target, support, or handles in power relations. These points of resistance are present everywhere in the power network.” — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 295
Categorization
- DEFINE: Establishes that resistance points are the constitutive structure of any power network, not an external opposition.
- XREF: connects to: Resistance of colonized peoples merits support regardless of its form. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 361; State power and force never extinguished liberationist rebellions; Micro-powers are reversible and never overthrown once and for all — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 74 (+2 more)
Related
- Resistance operates by strategy and struggle, not juridical right (similarity 0.83)
- Micro-powers are reversible and never overthrown once and for all (similarity 0.82)
- Resistance to disciplinary power requires a new right, not a return to sovereignty. (similarity 0.82)
- Subaltern forces resist rationalization intended to serve dominant interests. (similarity 0.81)
- Resistance reveals power’s hidden locations and methods better than studying power itself (similarity 0.81)
- Omnipresent power undermines the grounding of resistance in Foucault’s theory (similarity 0.80)
- Power’s proliferation stems from its congenital impotence, not omnipotence (similarity 0.80)
- Resistance may now be encouraged because it poses no real systemic threat (similarity 0.79)
- Power analysis must begin from techniques of domination, not sovereignty (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Micro-powers are reversible and never overthrown once and for all
#expands(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 74 - Resistance of colonized peoples merits support regardless of its form.
#complicates(0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 361 - State power and force never extinguished liberationist rebellions
#corroborates(0.72) - Power analysis must begin from techniques of domination, not sovereignty
#expands(0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 52