I've encountered Foucault before, mainly in cultural studies classes, and so I had a little understanding prior to reading the Method section of The History of Sexuality. This time, though, I read it through a first time which helped me recall all of that great Foucauldian knowledge I have stored somewhere in my brain, and then again (and again) in attempt to pull out some coherent thoughts on my term, Nation/Citizen. With this specific section, the hardest part for me is trying to find any specific area or term that Foucault's analysis of power relations doesn't apply to. As we read in Chapter 2, Part 4: Method, Foucault outlines how power relations and discourses on power are misunderstood. He lists 5 different points which introduce the reality of power relations as Foucault sees them. For example (I know I can't possibly cover the entirety of Foucault's analysis, so this is merely one example), the misconception that power follows a top-down format, wherein power is exerted from a ruler, or government/nation, onto its subjects or citizens in order to reach an end goal. Foucault posits that, instead, power is exercised by at every point and in any relation without regard to social, economic or political distinction. Power essentially is inherent in any relation and often the seemingly very powerful Nation, which is seemingly wholly responsible for the subjugation and oppression of its citizens, in actuality is no more responsible than any person who unknowingly exerts power at a local and personal level.
This different understanding of power relations in respect to oppression, prejudice, and subjugation of different groups of people is what I am interested in. I find that Foucault's theories of power really resonate with me (as clumsy as my explanation was, I feel I have a solid grasp on Foucault's theories) but diverging from his issue of tracing the discourses and medicalization of sexuality, I wonder what these different discourses on power relations could mean in regard to looking at a single individual (citizen perhaps) versus looking at a gigantic enterprise (nation). If, as Foucault tells us, power relations at a local level influence and affect the power relations on a national level, then how can we understand our role in these power relations? How can we use this knowledge to change more positively the effects of these power relations when we were mostly unaware of them to begin with? I also wonder, do we use our position within a nation, larger and "more powerful" than us individually, to negate our influential role in our daily power relations?
"Foucault posits that, instead, power is exercised by at every point and in any relation without regard to social, economic or political distinction. Power essentially is inherent in any relation"
This point stuck with me because I just learned about this in a different class, under a very different genre: communications. In my persuasion theories class we learned about how power operates in daily conversation, which I interpret as meaning the above. We learned what it means to use powerful language and powerless laguage as well as the implications and affects of both. I find it interesting that power is present in every relationship and in every encounter that humans make with one another, but most of the time, we do not recognize it as such. It's interesting that power and powerlessness are just so ingrained in our lives and the way that we communicate with one another that it often goes unnoticed because it is just seen as how thigns are done and have been done forever.