Power and Resistance: Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Althusser

by Yoshiyuki Sato

Proposes a provocative reinterpretation of poststructuralist theory of power

The “structuralist” theories of power show that the subject is produced and reproduced by the investment of but how then can we think of the subject's resistance to power? Based on this fundamental question, Power and Resistance interprets critically the (post-)structuralist theory of power and resistance, i.e., the theories of Foucault, Deleuze/Guattari, Derrida and Althusser. It analyses also the mechanism of power and the strategies of resistance in the era of neoliberalism. This meticulous analysis that completely renewed the theory of power is already published in French, Japanese, and Korean with success.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction

289 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2022

Reviews

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting exploration of power and the ability to resist power:

"Nevertheless, despite their relative difference, there is a commonality between the thoughts of Foucault and Deleuze/Guattari: resistance consists, for them, in transfiguring the subjective modality and the ‘way of thinking and living’. In other words, for the subjected subject, the issue is to transform his style of thought and life by constructing his singularity (Foucault), or by liberating his impersonal singularities (Deleuze and Guattari). This is what we have called the construction of ‘immanence’. The possibility of this transformation exists, in Foucault, in the reflexive gaze as auto-affection caused by the other, which then fulfils a function other than regulatory; in Deleuze and Guattari, it exists in the transformation of the hierarchical subjected group into a transversal subject-group of the schizos through a struggle of interests that finally detaches the desiring production from the pursuit of interests. And this de-subjection of the subjected subject is always possible through collective struggle, since, as Althusser demonstrated in his theory of ideology, the subject is not perfectly sutured by power. When the de-subjection is realized collectively, it becomes the ‘anti-pastoral revolution’ (Foucault), in which the subjects refuse to be governed in any way in order to construct a radically autonomous collective subjectivity."

[maxyeote · Rating 4 out of 5]

reads like a textbook. a good textbook though. not much theoretical ingenuity, just accurate close readings - though that's already rare when it comes to philosophy "textbooks"

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 3 out of 5]

More a glorified lit review than anything, I am unsure if I even know the question this dissertation sets out to work through. It sounds like a more or less Foucauldian problematic, but I don't think I agree with the characterization of the issue: it's not that, for Foucault, there is no outside of power and therefore no means of resistance, but rather a question of the sovereignty of the subject or of the gaze (as in Spivak, Copjec). There are too many authors discussed here, the ground covered too well-tread already, and each author comes to stand in for a position instead of as a symptom.

[ΜΩΜ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ένα βιβλίο/εγχειρίδιο που περιγράφει την πλούσια κριτική της μεταδομιστικής σκέψης (Φουκώ, Ντελέζ, Ντερριντά) πάνω στις σχέσεις του υποκειμένου με την εξουσία. Για το προσωπικό μου ενδιαφέρον, τα κείμενα σχετικά με τον Φουκώ μου φάνηκαν ιδιαίτερα βοηθητικά στην κατανόηση του κριτικού εγχειρήματος του στον Καντ και το λεγόμενο καντιανό υποκείμενο. Γενικότερα, η παρουσίαση των ιδεών γίνεται με σχηματικό και κοφτά συνοπτικό τρόπο, έχει δηλαδή αυστηρά υποστηρικτικό ρόλο που προϋποθέτει από την πλευρά του αναγνώστη μια προσωπική επαφή και ενασχόληση με τα κείμενα των αναφερθέντων στοχαστών.