Gaze and Norm: Foucault’s Legacy in Sociology

Forfattere

  • Dušan Marinković
  • Dušan Ristić

Nøgleord:

Michel Foucault, Jeremy Bentham, gaze, norm, sociology, space

Resumé

In this paper, we problematize the legacy of Michel Foucault from his genealogies of normalizing society. We claim that his most important concepts of normalizing society are gaze and norm, which are defined as the (social) technologies of power. Our assumption is that Foucault identified changes in social life and the emergence of the disciplinary diagram through the transformation of spatial practices. Thus, he “needed” Bentham’s idea of the Panopticon. However, his reference to Bentham goes beyond the interpretation of the spatial aspects of the Panopticon. Namely, genealogies of gaze and norm point to different dimensions of the normalizing society, out of which we emphasize their utilitarian aspects. This utilitarian dimension brought to light different institutions, discourses, and practices, as well as the new “optical” technology of power. The main contribution of the paper is the claim that Foucault’s recognition of the rise of the normalizing society is his most important legacy for sociology. This contribution needs to be recognized through his reading of Bentham but also in the interconnectedness of his genealogical analytics of gaze, norm, and space.

Forfatterbiografier

Dušan Marinković

Dušan Marinković (b. 1968) is a Full Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. He is Editor in Chief of Mediterran Publishing. His main fields of interest are sociological theory, sociology of knowledge and sociology of ideology. He is the author and co-author of the books: Construction of Social Reality in Sociology and Ideology, Reflexive Sociology of Alvin W. Gouldner, Outline for the Sociology of Ideology, Essays on Regional Identity, Essays in Geo-epistemology. His other fields of interest are the transformation of the public sphere and the relations between heterotopias, space and power.

Dušan Ristić

Dušan Ristić (b. 1980) is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions post-doctoral fellow at the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Graz. He also holds an associate professorship at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad in Serbia. His current research intersects datafication, digital culture, heritage and discourse analysis, but also the innovative ways of using digital methods in social sciences. He is the author and co-author of the books: Outline for the Sociology of Ideology, Essays on Regional Identity, Boundaries of Discourse, Essays in Geo-epistemology.

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2024-09-01

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Marinković, D., & Ristić, D. (2024). Gaze and Norm: Foucault’s Legacy in Sociology. Foucault Studies, (36), 268–292. Hentet fra https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/7219

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Special Issue: Foucault’s Legacy in Contemporary Thinking