This document discusses concepts related to power and ideology from critical theory perspectives. It defines ideology as beliefs that justify social stratification and provides examples. Hegemony involves domination that masses can consent to or resist. Critical theory provides a framework for analyzing how power operates in society. Foucault questioned whether those deemed "mad" were truly sick, arguing that medical treatments instead control and oppress in the name of morality. Power has both negative and positive impacts according to Foucault, being productive in bringing discipline as well as oppressive.

1. POWER and
CULTURE

2. “ideology” defined
 Ideology is a set of
assumption/beliefs/system that justifies
social stratification
 Examples for ideology:
patriarchy, matriarchy, white supremacy,
culture of poverty, heteronormativity

3. What is hegemony?
 Involves domination/coercion.
 Masses can give their consent (see Nazism)
or resist (see civil rights movement).
 Hegemony stabilizes when most members
give consent to the dominant ideology, said
Gramsci

4. illness and sexuality field of oppression
 According to Foucault, illness and
sexuality can become fields of
oppression:
By using the labels “abnormal” and
“immoral” that make people outcasts.

5. the Powerful secure their system
by constructing knowledge
 Spreading systems of thought through
education.
They determine what is “modern,” what is
awarded and what is punishable,
and label ability/disability, talent and
intelligence etc.

6. What kind of theory do we use for
analyzing how power operates?
 Critical Theory

7. Critical theory
 Critical theory provides
with frame of concepts
to analyze how power operates

8. Foucault: History of Madness in the
Classical Age(1961)
 Foucault questioned that the mad were merely sick
(“mentally” ill) and in need of medical treatment.
 He reasoned that the alleged scientific neutrality of
modern medical treatments of insanity are in fact
“covers” for controlling,
 and they oppress in the name of a conventional
bourgeois morality.
 The same is true for sexuality, and the concepts of
“man” (is it an object or subject?)

9. Foucault new idea about power
Foucault says, power has not only
negative but also positive impact
Power is also productive, helps
prevent chaos, and brings
discipline in social life