Browsing by Subject "power"

This thesis analyses the position of working-class women in Victorian Spiritualism, and how they transcended class positions using their role as mediums. Spiritualism was a religious movement that was popular in both North America and Europe during the Victorian era, and women were especially important to the movement because of their “innate” connection to the natural and supernatural realms. As the movement primarily focused on communication to and from the spirit world, women acted as intermediaries by using their bodies as “vessels” and through this attained positions of power and respect. Recent scholarship has mostly focused on the contributions of middle-class women towards this movement; however, working-class women were also greatly involved in Spiritualist circles. Working-class women were held to a different societal standard however, due to sexual and moral qualities that had been prescribed upon them by the middle class. There were many working-class women Spiritualists but how they were introduced to the movement and how they operated within it differed to their middle-class peers. This thesis examines why Spiritualism was appealing to working-class women, because they would not have used the movement to gain access to the public sphere (as was the case with middle-class women). Working-class women were already present in the public sphere and thus there must have been another reason why they were drawn to the movement. As is shown in the thesis, many Spiritualists also identified as Socialists; the two movements shared many similarities, including a vision of a utopic future where classes and genders were equal as well as a distrust for the middle-class Christians of their society. Another question examined is how working-class women viewed their own position in Spiritualism, which brings forth issues of agency and consciousness. Through examining sources from the mediums themselves as well as newspapers I am able to construct an understanding that working-class mediums knew that in order to be respected in the Spiritualist community they had to downplay their own involvement as well as emphasize their lack of interest in worldly goods. A portion of this thesis focuses on the differing treatment of public and private mediums – those women who were private mediums were commonly regarded as less likely to be fraudulent and more respected than those who were public – public, in this instance, meaning those mediums who took payment for séances and extended their circle beyond that of their family and friends. Working-class women in Spiritualism remain emblematic of contradictions that were so prevalent in Victorian society – the body of the working-class woman was thought to be her strength and her connection to the spirit realm, but it was only through giving up her agency and acting as a mouthpiece for these spirits was she respected and taken seriously. Research methods I have used include an examination of historical sources, mainly being newspapers, accounts from people present at séances and an autobiography from one of the most prominent mediums of the time. I have also included a brief overview of intersectionality and why it is important for this thesis, as well as an analysis of power. From my thesis I hope to show the Spiritualist movement from the perspective of working-class women as well as how they used it to attain their own agency.

Racism continues to be both a widely discussed topic and continuing problem within many of our societies. Yet, most of the mainstream discourse on race lacks any reference to the actual concept of race itself. This has led to a situation in which racism is understood as systematic discrimination but race itself is generally treated as a neutral and unproblematized identity category instead of a political system of oppression. In this master’s thesis I will examine the ontological relationship between the concept of race and power. The main goal is twofold. Firstly, I will show that the relationship between race and power is an inherent one. Secondly, I will show that it is not only possible but necessary to take Whiteness as a vantage point as we examine this relationship. For while we are generally accustomed to approach the topic of racism and racial injustice through the experiences of people of color, Whiteness continues to remain in the margins of our political, social, and theoretical conversations. This, I claim, results from the normalization of Whiteness that has rendered White people unable to see how race functions and affects their daily lives. I will begin by briefly examining how the ideas of race and Whiteness were historically constructed and implemented as oppressive systems. This will help us establish that race was never discovered but constructed to serve a specific purpose. From here I move onto examine the relationship between race and power through the frameworks of class and state power. First, I look at Charles Mills’ argument for why racial power relations are distinct from and transcend those of class. After this I examine how Michel Foucault conceptualizes race as a necessary technology of power to the modern state. Then I move onto examine George Yancy’s method that not only forces Whites to see the workings of race but allows us to comprehend that there is no sense in making a distinction between “good” and “bad” White people. Finally, I present my own method of asking the ethically laden question: “Is there anything good about Whiteness?” I argue that any meaningful discussions on racism must theoretically examine the historical construction of race and the purposes that it has been used. For this reveals the ontological relationship between race and power as an inherent one. In addition, it is also crucial to comprehend that race is first and foremost a lived experience that affects the daily lives of countless people before any of our conceptual analysis. Thus, examining both the theoretical and the empirical level of race is a necessity for us to have any change to move beyond race. And I suggest that we start by asking “Is there anything good about Whiteness?” For an adequate answer to this question requires an understanding of what it is to be White. Which then necessitates a thorough theoretical understanding of the construction, history and workings of race.

This study is about competence development in an expertise organization. Also, gender as a cultural and discursive construction was examined. The foucauldian critical discourse analysis and the theory of critical management and organization studies formed the theoretical and methodological framework. As the research phenomenon was understood as discursively produced, power is defined through the idea of government and as a knowledge constituting concept. It was examined what kind of reality, discursive subject positions, and finally, what kind of gender is produced in the discourse covered in this study. The context of the study was an expertise company that provides comprehensive infrastructure services. Managing and leading experts were therefore one of the main themes of the study. The qualitative research data was collected in a research project which concentrated on the possibilities, barriers and preconditions of the competence and career development in three different organizations. The gender viewpoint was included in the research project. The data was collected with a semi-structured interview. In this study nine individual interviews from one of the organizations were used, of which three were managers' interviews and six were the interviews of employees . The data was analyzed with the critical discourse-analytical reading approach when the data was interpreted as the discourse of competence development. The findings identify the examined discourse as a governmental method of discipline which entwines to the business strategy of the company, producing reality about the importance of continuous competence development. It demands employees to define themselves as self-developmental and active subjects. The employees adopted the discourse by constructing themselves as experts who are willing to develop, but who at the same time are challenging hierarchical power relationships. Expertise enables position to challenge manager-subordinate relationships by constructing them as cooperational and equal. Manager-position was constructed as a legitimized developer imposed by the organization as well as a mentor who facilitates the self-direction of the employees. Generally gender was produced as a concept independent of sex. However, at the same time gender was constructed through the differences between the sexes, being either advantage or a barrier for an individual. As a conclusion, it can be interpreted that being a subordinate and a manager seems to be changing and situational in contemporary organizations. The study reveals the changing forms of control in organizations and the requirement of more subjective work.

Foucauldian concepts of bio-power and biopolitics are widely utilized in contemporary political philosophy. However, Foucault’s account of bio-power includes some ambivalence which has rendered these concepts of bio-power and biopolitics rather equivocal. Foucault elaborates these concepts and themes related to them in his books Discipline and Punish (1975) and History of Sexuality: An Introduction (1976), and also in his Collège de France-lectures held from 1975 to 1979. Through a detailed analysis of these works this research suggests that there are differences in Foucault’s account of bio-power. The aim of this thesis is to shed light to these differences, and consequently, clarify Foucault’s account of bio-power and biopolitics. This research is divided into two main sections. The first analyzes Foucault’s works of 1975-76. In those works Foucault investigates relations of power and knowledge through a framework of what he called the normalizing society. Foucault identifies two essential forms of power operating in the normalizing society: individualizing discipline and population targeting bio-power. Together they form a network of power relations that Foucault calls power over life. By this concept Foucault designates the process by which human life in its totality became an object of power and knowledge. In this framework bio-power and biopolitics are essentially connected to particular system of norms which creates its power effects through medicine, human sciences and laws and regulations. The two pivotal reference points for normalizing techniques are race and sexuality. The second section focuses on Foucault’s lectures of 1977-79 and his other works published approximately until 1982.In these works Foucault elaborates the subject of governing population from different angle and with novel concepts. He abandons the view according to which one could locate a uniform architecture of power operating in society. Rather, he begins to analyze society as being constituted by multiple different forms of power and political rationalities. The crucial research question is what kinds of modifications take place in techniques of government when relations of power and knowledge are changed. In these investigations bio-power and biopolitics are identified with liberal apparatuses of security and pastoral power. The conclusions deduced in this thesis are that Foucault’s preliminary analysis of bio-power in the context of normalizing society is not sufficient to produce a firm analytical ground for concepts of bio-power and biopolitics. However, in his later elaborations of these concepts Foucault manages to demonstrate how political rationalities and different forms of power are related to the ways in which human life is governed and modified. Thus Foucault succeeds in creating analytical tools by which to have better understanding through what kinds of rationalities human life is managed in contemporary societies.

The purpose of this thesis is to introduce and analyze Michel Foucault’s (1926–1984) conceptions of power (pouvoir) and violence (violence). Foucault wrote extensively about power, but seldomly analyzed violence analytically. Nevertheless he argues that power and violence are connected. This thesis is an attempt to gain an understanding of the relation between power and violence and to open the field for questions on resistance. The questions of this thesis are approached through conceptual analysis and historical investigation. The main literature consists of Foucault’s mid-70s works; from Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality: Volume One to his lecture series at Collège de France, especially 'Society Must Be Defended' and Security, Territory, Population. Works on Foucault that are cited include Jeffrey Nealon’s Foucault Beyond Foucault (2008), Kai Alhanen’s Practices of Thought in Michel Foucault’s Philosophy (2012) and Johanna Oksala’s Foucault, Politics, and Violence (2012). Power is mainly approached through the concepts of cost and intensity, stressing Foucault’s famous claim that 'power produces', or that it is productive in itself. In contrast to power, violence is, according to Foucault, unproductive or even destructive in its effects. In order to understand how the concept of cost and the process of intensifying are interconnected with historical changes and the corresponding use of violence, Foucault’s accounts on different historical modes of power are introduced and examined. This examination shows that historically the use of violence has developed from being excessive and brutal (the sovereign’s 'Right of Death') to normative and life-preserving (the bio-political 'Power over Life'). The analysis shows that power and violence have a certain, historically contingent connection, which is perceived through the hegemonic political rationalities. According to Foucault, in order to resist violence, it is essential to understand the rationalities in question and to refuse to co-operate with the dominating practices they foster.

The aim of this master thesis was to study, how the children’s need of support appears in the context of early childhood education and what kind of governance is related to it. The aim of this thesis was to study these phenomena as a part of wider inequality development in the so-ciety. The theoretical framework of this thesis takes the concepts of normalization and gov-ernance with Foucauldian power theorizing as somewhat loose background. Former research has shown that the performed need of support is related to multiple characteristics and skills of the individual, neglecting the wicked problems like ostracism, racism and poverty having their influences on the individual as well, and thus legitimating many forms of governance. This kind of research is not done so much in the context of early childhood education and the aim of this thesis is to shed light to how these phenomena operate there. For this thesis I interviewed seven employees working in the early childhood education and made a discourse analysis of the in -depth interviews. My aim was to shed light to the way of speech, which is used when describing and defining the need of support, as well as the forms of governance, which are legitimated by the need of support. The results of my thesis revealed a very individual approach, where the need of support was almost without exceptions reduced to the traits, lack of skills or neurochemical processes of the children. Further, there was a clear differentiation produced between the ”normal” children and those of in need of support. A paradoxical perception is, that even though the personnel in many cases acknowledge there is flagrant injustice beneath the need of support, the back-ground is blurred in the name of equality. Thus, it is possible, that the burden of the environ-mental and even societal problems is leaved to individual children and the interventions can even be harmful as directed perhaps in the wrong place.

Tutkielma on tapaustutkimus, joka liittyy Suomen oikeusministeriön vuonna 2020 käynnistämään kansalliskielistrategian uudistushankkeeseen. Hankkeen tavoitteena on päivittää vuonna 2012 julkaistu kansalliskielistrategia vuoden 2021 loppuun mennessä. Tutkimuksessa uudistushanke nähdään diskurssitapahtumana (diskurssianalyyttisin termein, discursive event). Tutkimus tarkastelee diskurssitapahtumassa sitä, millaisia kieli-ideologioita ja vallankäytön keinoja paljastuu diskurssissa Suomen kansalliskielistä, suomen ja ruotsin kielestä. Lisäksi tutkitaan sitä, miten uudistushanke edustaa, toistaa, vahvistaa tai jopa ikuistaa sellaista diskurssia, jossa näkyy Suomen historiasta ammentaneita kieli-ideologisia ja vallankäytön piirteitä. Tutkielman teoreettinen kehys pohjautuu kahteen perinteeseen: sosiolingvistiikkaan, tarkemmin kieli-ideologioiden teoriaan, ja politiikantutkimukseen, tarkemmin teoriaan vallan kasvoista ja lajeista. Tarkastelun kohde on nk. taikaneliö eli se leikkauspiste, missä kieli, ideologia, valta ja politiikka kohtaavat. Tavoite on hahmottaa, miten nämä käsitteet kietoutuvat toisiinsa tutkitussa diskurssissa. Aineisto koostuu kahdesta osasta: ydinosan muodostavat vastaukset, jotka kerättiin touko-kesäkuun 2020 aikana ns. verkkoaivoriihen, kaikille avoimen nettikyselyn avulla. Oikeusministeriön luvalla kyselyn ylläpitäjä toimitti tätä tutkimusta varten noin kymmenesosan kaikista vastauksista. Yhteensä tutkielman aineisto käsittää 111 henkilöä ja 812 vastausainesta. Aineiston toinen osa koostuu muista tutkielman aikana julkaistuista keskeisistä uudistushankkeeseen liittyvistä kirjoituksista. Kolmiportaisen diskurssianalyysin menetelmän ensimmäinen taso osoittaa, että kieli-ideologiat jakautuvat kolmeen ryhmään. Ensimmäinen ja suurin ryhmä on välineellinen kieli-ideologia, jossa kieli esineellistetään työkaluksi, jolla on mitattava käyttöarvo, hyöty tai toimivuus. Toinen pääideologia on kansallinen. Siinä korostuu kielen rooli puheyhteisön identiteetin ja kulttuurin ominaisuutena. Kolmas ryhmä vastauksia edustaa pluralistista kieli-ideologiaa, joka arvostaa monikielisyyttä itsessään. Aineistosta paljastuu myös vallan kasvojen ja lajien laaja käyttö. Diskurssianalyysin toinen taso osoittaa, että eri ryhmillä on tärkeä rooli kieli-ideologian välittäjinä. Asemastaan johtuen oikeusministeriö asettaa hankkeelle kehikon, jossa välineellinen ja kansallinen kieli-ideologia ovat vahvasti läsnä. Verkkoaivoriihen vastaajat eivät silti ole voimattomia, vaan pyrkivät tuomaan politiikkaa takaisin diskurssiin sekä palauttamaan valtaa itselleen. Lehdistöllä on myös merkittävä rooli: vaikenemalla hankkeesta se varmistaa, että uudistushanke sujuu rajoitetussa kehikossa. Diskurssianalyysin kolmas analyysitaso paljastaa vahvaa intertekstuaalista vuorovaikutusta mm. Suomen perustuslain kanssa, mikä vahvistaa diskurssin sekä välineellisiä että kansallisia ideologisia piirteitä. Aineisto osoittaa myös, että voimakas vapaus-topos aktivoi kahdenlaista vallankäytön muotoa: vastustuksen murtamista ja preferenssien muuttamista. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kansalliskielistrategian uudistus-hanke ei muodostakaan irrallaan olevaa diskurssitapahtumaa, vaan se sijoittuu perinteiseen diskurssiin kansalliskielistä niin kuin sitä on käyty Suomessa jo 1800-luvulta lähtien.

This thesis studies the discourses of power and anti-violence activism related to feminicides in Mexico. Feminicides are defined as killings of women because of their gender. Although feminicides have existed throughout the history of Mexico, the issue became a focus of attention among the masses nearly 30 years ago because of the wave of violence in Ciudad Juárez. Today, according to the official data of the State, three women are victims of feminicides in Mexico daily. However, the number is most likely substantially higher given the underreporting of feminicides and that some states still do not distinguish them as separate crimes from homicides. It is estimated that approximately ten women are killed as victims of feminicides in Mexico every day. The theoretical framework for this study is rooted in the Foucauldian scholarship of power. More precisely, Michel Foucault’s theory of power as relational or productive and the idea of power being everywhere but nowhere, in particular, imposes the principal understanding of how violence is implicated in multiple structures of power relations. The study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews, with data being gathered by interviewing six feminist activists who are working against feminicides in Mexico. After this, the interviews were analysed with methods of discourse analysis. The study finds the total of five main discourses with their sub-discourses: 1. Structures (Patriarchal culture and Deficient understanding), 2. The State (Politics and Impunity), 3. Truth (Bending truth and Clash of genders) 4. Pervasive violence, and 5. Women’s networks. The results of the analysis suggest that the power related to violence against women comes indeed from everywhere: power comes from structures of the society, from education, from the State and the law (and impunity), from the truth (or what we accept as truth), from non-State agents such as criminal organisations and women themselves. They are all connected so that even criminal organisations and politicians are interweaved in the same network of power, and in the case of Mexico, not even very far from each other. Women themselves exercise power through relations, networks and cooperation and this is the dimension of power that women consider their most important asset. To keep themselves secure in a potentially hostile environment, activist women maintain a set of safety rules and regulations that they follow in their everyday lives. In conclusion, power influencing violence against women is located deep in the patriarchal structures and practices in Mexico. This is why it is challenging to tackle the problem of continuing gendered violence in Mexico: it does not have any centre. This means that also globalised networks of organised crime, as well as the overall patriarchal culture, influence on discourses that power and gender-based violence are given. Also, it is noteworthy that power should not be considered only oppressive or dominating as that interpretation would give women only the role of passive victims. Women also possess power that they exercise through social relations and collective activist networks. In sum, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of feminicides and violence against women in Mexico. Furthermore, through the unique interview data, the results collect valuable information on all the main challenges that are hampering the activists’ work against violence.