What is Foucault saying in History of Sexuality?
Foucault argues that we generally read the history of sexuality since the 18th century in terms of what Foucault calls the “repressive hypothesis.” The repressive hypothesis supposes that since the rise of the bourgeoisie, any expenditure of energy on purely pleasurable activities has been frowned upon.
What was Foucault theory of sexuality?
Foucault argued that knowledge and power dynamics in relationships have had great influence on sexuality. He concluded that power is not what repressed sexuality but instead that it is ultimately power that has created the construct of sexuality.[9]
What does Foucault say about history?
Instead of presenting a monolithic version of a given period, Foucault argues that we must reveal how any given period reveals “several pasts, several forms of connexion, several hierarchies of importance, several networks of determination, several teleologies, for one and the same science, as its present undergoes …
What is Foucault’s theory called?
Foucault argued that knowledge and power are intimately bound up. So much so, that that he coined the term “power/knowledge” to point out that one is not separate from the other. Every exercise of power depends on a scaffold of knowledge that supports it.
Why is Foucault’s the history of sexuality important?
Lesson Summary. Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, especially its first volume, was incredibly influential in thinking about sex and sexuality. Foucault’s questioning of ‘The Repressive Hypothesis’ challenged people to not see the history of sex as merely one of repression and rebellion against this repression.
Are we obsessed with sex according to Foucault?
Far from repressing their sexuality, Foucault argues, people in these centuries were in fact obsessed with sex. Foucault argues that in the 18th and 19th centuries, discourse around sex moved from discussions of married couples to sex outside of marriage and various forms of perversion, or sexuality that deviates from the norm.
What is the significance of Part 5 in Foucault’s theory of sexuality?
Part 5 of the text works to center sexuality as part of a larger historical context of the development of a societal power structure. Before the concept of sexuality was developed, culture was primarily maintained by a power structure, which Foucault calls “alliance” and was dominated by kin and political relationships.
When was Foucault’s the use of Pleasure published?
Volume 2, The Use of Pleasure, and Volume 3, The Care of the Self, were both published in 1984. These volumes focus on Greek and Roman sexuality and are generally less read than Volume 1. Foucault was a philosopher and literary critic whose work focused on the relationship between power and knowledge.