Another resource mentioned during Nancy White’s presentation (Week 8 – Change 11 MOOC)….

This online resource by Dino Felluga includes the following citation:

“At the very heart of the power relationship, and constantly provoking it, are the recalcitrance of the will and the intransigence of freedom” (221-22). Foucault thus provides us with a powerful model for thinking about how to fight oppression when one sees it: “the analysis, elaboration, and bringing into question of power relations and the ‘agonism’ between power relations and the intransitivity of freedom is a permanent political task inherent in all social existence” (223).

I am currently struggling with some changes which are, to me, presenting a risk that the people served by a human service organisation will be forgotten in a machinery of structural change.  Speaking out in an environment where positional authority is the rule, building careers a core motivator, and underpinning values appear forgotten, is a risk in itself.  It reminds me of the quote, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” According to wikiquote, this has been attributed to Edmund Burke, perhaps incorrectly. Whatever – this quote has always held meaning for me.

 

Felluga, Dino. “Modules on Foucault: On Power.” Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date of last update, which you can find on the home page. Purdue U. Date you accessed the site. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultpower.html>.