Page 23 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 3

In terms of understanding how power relates to In modern societies power, for Foucault, is
the social construction of reality, Giddens exercised in increasingly subtle modes of
(2001) suggests it involves domination, such as the expansion of
technological surveillance - both "from above",
‘the ability of individuals or groups to make such as CCTV, and "below" - modern
their own concerns or interests count, even smartphones, for example, used to film people's
where others resist’. everyday behaviour that is then publicised
through social media.
Power, in this respect, allows some individuals
and groups to impose their definition of reality Foucault further argues that both knowledge
on others and, by so doing, create a sense of about the social world and the language we use
order and stability. to express such knowledge are aspects of belief
systems that control behaviour by dominating
However, when thinking about the significance how people think about the world.
of power as a cohesive force, Foucault (1983)
argues power in contemporary societies is If, for example, we believe in ideas like "male"
different to power in past societies because it is and "female" this conditions how we behave
opaque or ‘difficult to see’; people are unaware both as males and females and towards other
of the actual power others, such as males and females.
governments, hold over them - something that
comes about because the way people think Although, as the above suggests, reality is
about and experience power in everyday life socially constructed, the actual construction
has changed. process itself involves a complex relationship
between beliefs, ideologies and power on the
In the past social control was mainly based on one hand - the over-arching structural elements
‘raw (coercive) power’ - from a monarch of culture - and the day-to-day construction
exercising supreme power to prison systems process built on ideas about roles, values and
that maintained total control over the body. norms.

23