Politics, Power & Resistance

Continuous Analytical Reflection, week 14

Hayley Mobsby17552729

Outline

Week 5 The disciplinary and punitive state

Week 6 The Clash of Civilisations

Week 11 Gender and Sexuality (citizenship & inequality)

Power to the People

All elements are addressed in caricatures as they demonstrate all points clearly. (notes included).

Although there are multiple theories on all three of these topics, I will be focusing mainly on the aspect of the topic I deem most important.

Weber and Foucault:
disciplinary power.

Weber and Foucault are interested in the fundamental question of how people in modern societies come to integrate the notion of rational discipline within themselves thus changing the organisation of society,and the course of human behaviour.

WeberAs we have seen, Webers crucial contribution to the discussion of power is summed up by his definition of the state as having the control over the legitimate means of violence. Weber saw the state as being the most important venue of power. Nevertheless, Weber did not think that the state controls its citizens through constantly subjecting them to violence. Rather, it is the possibility of violence that generates the states control.

Foucault

Foucault builds a case for the idea that prison became part of a larger "carceral system" that has become an all-encompassing sovereign institution in modern society. Prison is one part of a vast network, including schools, military institutions, hospitals, and factories, which build a panoptic society for its members. This system creates "disciplinary careers" which operates according to principles that ensure that it "cannot fail to produce delinquents.

The Diciplinary and Punative State

The representation that this image shows is the increasing trend of over incarcerating and under educating. School is the first and arguably the most important site of societal discipline because it takes children from a young age and instills in them the values of majority society. It is a force for the embedding of convention and order as much as education. (Foucault) The NAACP states that Failing schools, college tuition hikes, and shrinking state education budgets are narrowing the promise of education for young people all across the country. Meanwhile, we continue to invest billions of dollars into our corrections system, sending our youth a clear message that we value incarceration over education.

Funding priority problem

The majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails are people of colour, people with mental health issues and drug addiction, people with low levels of educational attainment, and people with a history of unemployment or underemployment. During the last two decades, as the criminal justice system came to assume a larger proportion of state discretionary dollars, state spending on prisons grew at six times the rate of state spending on higher education. It is critical that all states prioritize education over incarceration. The NAACP calls for the downsizing of prisons and the shifting of financial resources from secure corrections budgets to education budgets.

The Privitisation of Prisons

Researchers have recently tried to locate privatisation within the expansionist needs of the United States military industrial complex. The idea is that it leaves inmates, legitimately concerned with conditions and opportunities whilst serving their sentences, as virtually irrelevant symbols. So, too, does that mode of analysis which locates privatisation in the supposed desire of businesses to drive state incarceration policies so as to increase the use of imprisonment and thus provide the opportunity to maximise profits. In Australia, this has so far clearly not been a factor in privatisation.

The clash of civilisations

Ideology

Post 9/11

Diversity

Gender

Ideology

Ideologues are seen as dogmatic individuals, unwilling to take part in rational debate. Things that are taken to be western principles such as liberal values, democracy, tolerance, respect for the rule of law etc. are rarely seen as ideological in nature. They are portrayed as neutral and universal and thus opposed to ideologies - dogmas - which are said to be the preserve of dictators and religious fundamentalists.

This one-sided view of ideology creates a divide between western and non-western ways of thinking which underpin very different ways of life. The western way of life - seen as free from ideology - is deemed to be more positive because it is seen as free from ideological dogmatism, while non-western ways of life (in particular the Muslim world) is seen as unfree because they are wedded to strict and unyielding ideological structures dictated by anti-modern religious precepts.

The Post 9/11 world and the politics of fear.

The destructive events of 9/11 have caused an ideological shift to occur. Due to the nature of the events themselves, but also to the decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is a global perception that the west is at war with the Muslim world in a clash of civilizations the outcome of which will determine how we all live our lives in the future. Because 9/11 involved ordinary people on commuter planes, the idea that terrorists can attack anywhere at any time has been a strong motivation in support for extraordinary measures under the war on terror by means of politics of fear.

Diversity

Is it important?

Why is it emphasised?

Has it gone too far?

Is it now a scapegoat?

Does it happen more in certain places?

Is it just culture?

Critics of multiculturalism often debate whether the multicultural ideal of benignly co-existing cultures that interrelate and influence one another, and yet remain distinct, is sustainable, paradoxical, or even desirable.[138][139][140] It is argued that Nation states, who would previously have been synonymous with a distinctive cultural identity of their own, lose out to enforced multiculturalism and that this ultimately erodes the host nations' distinct culture

Sex and Gender

The western approach to the treatment of women in Islam, can be seen as sexularism. According to Scott, sexularism refers to the way in which secular European or western modernity is seen as leading naturally to sexual liberation and gender equality. However, this denies the fact that gender equality is anything but achieved in western contexts and makes presumptions about the link between the wearing of the veil/burka and womens subjugation and/or oppression.

Sex and gender cont.

Most inequalities that arise in terms of sex and gender are oppressive

There are still beliefs that women and other groups of people are disadvantaged from the outset due to deeply held social and cultural beliefs about their place in society.

To succeed in business, politics, etc. people other than straight men often need to take on stereotypically male characteristics, putting work before family.

Yet, other people argue that this is bad for men and women. Even men dont want to be stereotypically male: they want to have more time for family and children and domestic duties also.

The common perception that Islam is an oppressive regime that denies women basic human rights. Is it the view that has led many Muslim women in Australia to be constantly asked What is it like being a Muslim woman in Australia? Is it hard, is it challenging? Why cant you just be like everyone else, why cant you just learn to be Australian? Why would someone so educated, articulate and confident allow herself to be forced into wearing that thing on her head?

However muslim women in Australia are united by their identification with a faith that many assert is contrary to womens rights. The rights of freedom of religion and gender equality.

Despite the common notion that Muslims are terrorists and muslim men oppress their women, it is just common sense. When interviewed by Ghena Krayham, other muslim women spoke at length of the benefit of living in Australia where they felt that they were respected and allowed to live their life according to their faith. Muslim women leaders from across Australia spoke of how Islam promotes gender equality and supports the full participation of women in all aspects of community life.

In the 21st century, young women are reinventing feminism. There is a spate of books and website that call for a new feminism. Feminism is rebranded as attractive, feisty, and independent. However, as Nina Power, argues this form of feminism that argues that feminist values are not inconsistent with a love of shopping or sex, tends to put forward an individualistic vision of feminism: each woman to herself liberating herself, rather than a collective endeavour for the common liberation of all women.

The question then needs to be asked, do all women need to be liberated?

Whilst many Muslim women, would vehemently argue that Islam is not an oppressive religion,it is acknowledged that there are horrific practices against Muslim women where religion is used as a justification for violence against them. The recent story of Malala Yousefzai the Pakistani school girl who nearly lost her life fighting for the right of girls to have access to an education only need remind us that there is trauma to appreciate that for many Muslim women their struggle remains in seeking basic human rights that is taken for granted. However, there are many factors other than religion that have led to the violation of womens rights and that many Muslim activists and feminists would argue that blaming Islam is a simplistic answer to a multifaceted issue.

The end

References

America,. (2011). Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate Excessive Spending on Incarceration Undermines Educational Opportunity and Public Safety in Communities.

Foucault, M., & Sheridan, A. (1991). Discipline and punish (1st ed.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books.

Huntington, S. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order (1st ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster.

Krayem, g. (2013). THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A MUSLIM WOMAN IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Right Now, p. 4. Retrieved from http://rightnow.org.au/writing-cat/opinion/the-challenges-of-being-a-muslim-woman-in-a-multicultural-society/

Lentin, A., & Titley, G. (2011). The crises of multiculturalism (1st ed.). London: Zed Books.

Phillips, A. (2007). Multiculturalism without culture (1st ed.). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

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