Foucault's history of the prison system is quite intense. From his first examples of horrendous torture, to his explanation of the modern judicial systems, the tone of disgust, and lack of humanity is quite evident, as he explains the change is judicial theory and practice in a democratic society. At first the perpetrator Damien, is cruelly dissected and destroyed as a mass spectacle in the towns square. This is justice as of two hundred plus years ago. The trend quickly transforms, and the executions are held behind closed doors, away from the public, as a way to condemn those guilty of capital punishment. Now as he explains, the prison system focuses directly on the transformation of the soul of the condemnable with a form of systematic slavery . Not only has the prison system transformed its process of attacking the body to maintain justice by attacking the soul, moreover there has been a change in the idea of knowledge and what is truth when investigating offenses. What used to be a simple three step process, "Knowledge of the offense, knowledge of the offender, knowledge of the law" (Foucault 19), is now an examination process where authorities pass the power to judge to any and all other institutions as an attempt to reform.
1 comment:
Excellent point: a change in knowledge as correlative with a change in power. Foucault's work might be described as a treatment of the power/knowledge relation. How has this relation been classically conceived and how is it being reconcieved by Foucault?
Post a Comment