Starting with Foucault: An Introduction to Genealogy, Second Edition

account of how power relations enable and produce trutb and knowledge indescribing the manufacture of a nmm-generating conception of sexualityHowever, two things must be kept in mind as we proceed. The first is thatFoucauft is primarily intere~ed in how power produces subjects. This maybe obscured by the emphasis on the produclion of trutb and knowledge inThe Histo~y o(Sexgnli&. Similarly, the emphasis on disciplinary techniquesand regulation in Biscgli~e a ~ ii"unish d may obscbrre that the book's mainconcern is the production of suErjecrs. Foucadt is quite clear on the point: ''Itis not power, but the subject, which is the general theme of my research,"""6The second thing to remember is that Fottcault does not offer a theory ofpower in Part Pour or anywhere else, If one ""ties to erect a theory ofpower one will always be obligated to .. . , reconstruct its gene~is,"-~7 Thatwould be to search for essences. II would be to seek power" Capital-O Originsand thereby to make power into a force or set of objective determinants,To offer a theory of power would be to cease being nonlhalisrlcabout power,'bwhich is why ""Foucault7s account of power is not intendedas a theoryWSg What Foucault offers is a certain kind of depiction-renderiagsor mappings-&at he calls ""analytics" of power selations," Power '"isin reality an open, more-M-less coordinated . . . cluster of relations.'Te donot need a theory to understand power, even if one were possible; we need""a grid of anaiysk which makes possible an analytic of relations ofpower,"a That is, we need a method to map the complex, dynmic web ofinteractions among human agents, Genealogy is the method, and the ""analytic~"produced are depictions or mappings of moments in the always-nuiddisposition of power relaions, An i'analyric" of power relations is whollyhistorical. It can be neither theoretical nor "a context-free, ahistorical, objectivedescription* ''62The first chapter of Dart Four, ""Objective," describes both what bucaultintends to establish in the first volume of The History o( fexwaliv and thethrust of the six prajected volumes." The aim is to trace and investigate theproduction of our sexual subjeczivity, The discussion of power is not conductedfor its own sake. As in Biscigfine iknd Punish, power is discussed inPart Four of Tj~e History of Sexuality to illuminate the mechanics of subjectformation.t-PO contrast it with his own, Foucault calls the traditional conception ofpower, that is, as coercive and prohibitive, the "juridico-discursive" conception.6"Thetraditional conception of power as proscriptive is exemplifiedin the state's promulgation and enforcement of laws, The point of thecontrast is that unlike Fsucauldiart power, juridico-discursive power is notenabling, Even when it is productive, in the limited sense of forcing somethingto be done, it funcdons by hrhidding the lack of compliance withpromulgated prescriptive rules and laws. That is, juridics-discursive powerdoes not enhance possible actions; it coerces specific ones.