ERIC Number: EJ1127584
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Feb
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2203-4714
EISSN: N/A
The Prayers and Tears of Foucault: Panopticism and the Politics of Dissent in "An Enemy of the People" and "Look Back in Anger"
Jeihouni, Mojtaba; Torkamaneh, Pouria
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, v7 n1 p88-97 Feb 2016
Drawing on the thought of Foucault, this article argues that the anarchistic protagonists of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" (1882) and John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" (1956) are engaged in a hegemonic battle which puts their identities at stake and ultimately exiles them to isolation. It points out that the very success of both in renouncing authority's sovereignty is what actually hastens their failure in the end. The identification of this failure with panopticism, which for Foucault characterizes the modern economy of power, is the primary concern of this article. It is argued that through the subtle process of normalizing subjects the panopticon establishes a disciplinary society where citizens are stripped of their subjective voices. The central characters of both plays are thus easily exposed to panoptic surveillance when they decide to take on the strategies of power. Further, using Foucault's concept of exclusion, the article proceeds to illustrate how in filtering out these delinquent individuals the hands of power urge them to refine their ways and how, upon failure, they exert the policy of exclusion.
Descriptors: Drama, Self Concept, Power Structure, Authoritarianism, Social Theories, Social Isolation, Public Policy, Social Systems
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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