Language, Power, and Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault: "Power is Everywhere"

Michel Foucault talks about power as being something that is all-pervasive, something that is "everywhere". Power is not easily-seen, the strongest form of power is "normalizing power" as it is subtle and without actual violence but it uses the threat of violence to keep people "in check" so to say. This power seeks to label what is "normal" and what is not. It, very subtly, guides us in our daily lives to do go about doing things in certain ways (what clothes one wears, what music one listens to, what accent one speaks in, etc.). 

"Normalizing power" is contrary to "repressive power" which is overt and violent. People, regardless of socioeconomic status, are subjected to normalizing power in one way or another. Power is also typically backed by science and ever-changing truths (the truth today is much different than the truth of 1955, for example). Generally, we have five major takeaways from Foucault's idea of power:

(Image Created by Mbiama Assogo Roger)

1. Power is present in everyone's daily life
2. Power is not inherently political
3. Power can be good and bad though it is usually thought of as being bad
4. Science changes truth, truth changes power
5. There is normalizing power and there is repressive power

My Experiences with Language and Power

Language and Gender

(Non-binary Symbol Created by Kaldari)

I have had a good amount of experience with power as it relates to language, particularly ever since I began my studies in sociology/anthropology. One way I noticed this power is how, as a society, we are advancing in the ways we name things, and the ways we choose to describe ideas and concepts. 

I noticed that ever since the civil rights/gender revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s, we became more able to express concepts surrounding gender identity, sexuality, and racial/ethnic identity.

We have terms today that did not exist many years ago (at least not in the English language). For example, "non-binary" is a term that was coined in 1990 but there are historical accounts of non-binary people existing before then (GenderGP, 2021). I feel this is a good example of how language can be used to empower and help people understand themselves which, in turn, allows people to maintain discourse over these topics.

Language and Racism

I would like to also point out how language and power relate to racism. According to (Brooks, 2021), dominant languages (like English) overpower minority languages (such as Arabic, Spanish, or even language variants). Later in this same article, there is mention of accent minimization, grammar correction of people with accents, and so on.

(Image Created by Ivan Radic)

I relate this back to Foucault's conceptualization of power being a force of normalization, something that seeks to define normalcy and deviance. Someone with an accent is subconsciously deemed "abnormal" by people who do not speak with an accent (an accent that is abnormal to whatever the hegemony is, Americans still do have an accent even if they believe they do not have one).

Conclusions

I also believe that, with this blog, I am promoting discourse that is both promoting and challenging certain forms of power. I am promoting language being used to increase vocabulary to help people describe different identities. I am also challenging a specific, linguistic component of racism. I am engaging in both the reinforcement of one power and the challenging of another. Power is truly everywhere, it seems.

Sources

GenderGP. “Non-Binary People in History: Why Aren't They Recognised?” GenderGP Transgender Services, May 4, 2022. https://www.gendergp.com/non-binary-people-in-history/#:~:text=Despite%20the%20depth%20of%20non,%E2%80%9D%20and%20non%2Dbinary%20history. 

Brooks, Caroline. “Ask the Expert: Linguistic Racism.” MSUToday, January 6, 2021. https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2021/linguistic-racism.