The Technologies of the Self: Sport, Feminism, and Foucault

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pirkko Markula
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Technologies Of The Self ◽  
Gender Specific

Following Michel Foucault, feminist sport scholars have demonstrated how women’s physical activity can act as a technology of domination that anchors women into a discoursive web of normalizing practices. There has been less emphasis on Foucault’s later work that focuses on the individual’s role of changing the practices of domination. Foucault argues that human beings turn themselves into subjects through what he labels “the technologies of the self.” While his work is not gender specific, some feminists have seen the technologies of the self as a possibility to reconceptualize the self, agency and resistance in feminist theory and politics. In this paper, I aim to examine what Foucault’s technologies of self can offer feminists in sport studies. I begin by reviewing applications of Foucault’s technology of the self to analyses of women’s physical activity. I will next locate the technologies of the self within Foucault’s theory of power, self and ethics to further reflect how valuable this concept can be for feminist sport studies.

Foucaulte o Poder

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (28) ◽  
pp. 221-226
Author(s):  
José de Almeida Pereira Arêdes ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Population Policy ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Productive Force ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Technologies Of The Self ◽  
Control Power ◽  
Mind Control

The purpose of this paper is to present some thoughts upon the ever pressing question of the role of justice in our societies, according to Michel Foucault. Centered upon Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, the paper draws the guidelines which Foucault developed about the aggiornamento of the exercise of power and its changing methods, from torture to the scientific methods which he named technologies of the self. Going from the exercise of violence centered upon the body to its submission by means of idea and mind control, power has associated itself to the scientific (psychiatric) approach of identity, leading to a controllable abnormality (present in prisons). All of this in the name of a population policy, a bio power which ensures the docility of individuals while optimizing their productive force. Hence the remaining epigraph quoted challenge where Plato provocatively States: justice is the same everywhere, it is the rule of the strongest.

Drafted into a Foreign War?

Rhizomata ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-217
Author(s):  
Matthew Sharpe
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
The Self ◽  
Spiritual Practices ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Technologies Of The Self ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
Modern Conception ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rational Inquiry

Abstract This paper examines the central criticisms that come, broadly, from the modern, ‘analytic’ tradition, of Pierre Hadot’s idea of ancient philosophy as a way of life.: Firstly, ancient philosophy just did not or could not have involved anything like the ‘spiritual practices’ or ‘technologies of the self’, aiming at curing subjects’ unnecessary desires or bettering their lives, contra Hadot and Foucault et al. Secondly, any such metaphilosophical account of putative ‘philosophy’ must unacceptably downplay the role of ‘serious philosophical reasoning’ or ‘rigorous argument’ in philosophy. Thirdly, claims that ancient philosophy aimed at securing wisdom by a variety of means including but not restricted to rational inquiry are accordingly false also as historical claims about the ancient philosophers. Fourthly, to the extent that we must (despite (3)) admit that some ancient thinkers did engage in or recommend extra-cognitive forms of transformative practice, these thinkers were not true or ‘mainline’ philosophers. I contend that the historical claims (3) and (4) are highly contestable, risking erroneously projecting a later modern conception of philosophy back onto the past. Of the theoretical or metaphilosophical claims (1) and (2), I argue that the second claim, as framed here, points to real, hard questions that surround the conception(s) of philosophy as a way of life.

scholarly journals Self-Determined Motivation Mediates the Association between Self-Reported Availability of Green Spaces for Exercising and Physical Activity: An Explorative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1312
Author(s):  
Migle Baceviciene ◽  
Rasa Jankauskiene
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Behavior Regulation ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Study Support ◽  
Practical Implications

The aim of the study was to test the associations between the self-reported access to exercise in green spaces (GS) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) testing the mediating role of the motivation. Based on self-determination theory (SDT), we expected that self-determined motivation will mediate the associations between the self-reported availability of GS for exercising (GSE) and MVPA with the most self-determined exercise regulation forms (identified and intrinsic motivation) demonstrating the strongest positive associations between the variables. Method: The sample consisted of 2154 participants (74.7% women). The ages ranged from 18 to 79 years, with a mean age of 32.6 (SD = 12.2) years. Participants completed the Behavior Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, the measures of self-reported distance to residential GS (RGS), availability of the GS for exercising (GSE), and physical activity (PA). Logistic regression and path analysis were used to test the associations between study variables. Results: Higher reported distance to RGS was associated with lower reported availability of GSE, but not PA. Availability of GSE was directly associated with more frequent MVPA. More autonomous forms of exercise behavior regulation (intrinsic and identified regulations) mediated the associations between self-reported availability of GSE and MVPA. Internal and identified exercise regulations were directly associated with more frequent MVPA. Conclusions: The results of the present study support the main tenets of SDT suggesting that self-determined behavioral exercise regulation is an important mediator between the self-reported availability of GSE and general MVPA. Practical implications of these findings are discussed herein.

scholarly journals Ibsen’s The Pillars of Society: Female Protest against Patriarchy

NUTA Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Arjun Dev Bhatta
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Patriarchal Power ◽  
The Voice

This study explores social relationship between male and female in Henrik Ibsen’s play “The Pillars of Society”. The first part of the study analyzes a sexist society in which male characters subjugate females through their hegemonic power. The female characters appear meek, submissive and voiceless. The second part of this study examines the revolutionary role of the female characters who raise their voice against all-pervasive patriarchal power. They protest against male formulated institutions which have kept women voiceless and marginalized. Being dissatisfied with the defenders of patriarchal status quo, Ibsen’s female protagonists come to the fore to challenge prevailing social conviction about femininity and domesticity. They lead a crusade to establish their position and identity as human beings equal to men. In this play, the female characters Lona, Martha and Dina hold a revolutionary banner to protest against male domination of female. In their constant struggle, they win while the male characters become loser. This study analyses the voice of these leading female characters in the light of feminist theory proposed by scholars such as Kete Millett and Sylvia Walby.

scholarly journals GENDER SPECIFIC ROLE OF HABITUAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON VENTRICULAR REPOLARIZATION AMONG MIDDLE AGED AND ELDERLY INDIVIDUALS. THE IKARIA STUDY

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (14) ◽  
pp. E516
Author(s):  
Evangelos Oikonomou ◽  
Christina Chrysohoou ◽  
Dimitris Tsiachris ◽  
Gerasimos Siasos ◽  
Georgia Vogiatzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Ventricular Repolarization ◽  
Habitual Physical Activity ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Elderly Individuals ◽  
Gender Specific

Discourse Analysis as a Qualitative Methodology

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Joseph Zajda
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Self ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Behaviour

The article analyses the term discourse and discourse analysis with reference to Foucault and other critics. Foucault used the role of discourses in wider social processes of legitimating power, and emphasizing the construction of current truths. The article argues that discourse analysis, as employed by Foucault, concentrated on analysing power relationships in society, as expressed through language and social practices. The article examines the use of genealogy, where Foucault attempted to trace the beginnings of internalised moral behaviour, or a reflexive relation to the self in human beings. Examples are presented of various approaches to discourse analysis, including deconstruction and preferred reading and interpretation of the text. The article concludes with the evaluation of discourse analysis as a qualitative methodology.

Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault.

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
James N. Porter ◽  
Luther H. Martin ◽  
Huck Gutman ◽  
Patrick H. Hutton
Keyword(s):  
Michel Foucault ◽  
The Self ◽  
Technologies Of The Self

scholarly journals Deficits of Political Culture in the Context of the Transformation of Postmodern Subjectivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 43-75
Author(s):  
Mariola Kuszyk-Bytniewska
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Political ◽  
Technologies Of The Self ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
The Face ◽  
Cultural Status ◽  
Modern Technologies

In the article, I address the issues of the transformation of subjectivity, to which it is subject in the face of changes in the political and cultural status of knowledge in post-modernity. I am trying to identify and define the post-modern deficits of political culture as a consequence of these changes. Looking at the links between subjectivity and politics, I reach out to Charles Taylor, who characterizes the crisis of the ethos of authenticity, Anthony Giddens, who analyses the process of disembedding of a subject, and Michel Foucault describing modern technologies of the self-creation in the context of a concept of politics understood as praxis by Hannah Arendt.

scholarly journals The Shadow Side of Second-Person Engagement: Sin in Paul's Letter to the Romans

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Susan Grove Eastman
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Personal Agency ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Holding Environment ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Self In Relation ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
Shadow Side

This paper explores the characteristics of debilitating versus beneficial intersubjective engagements, by discussing the role of sin in the relational constitution of the self in Paul’s letter to the romans. Paul narrates ‘sin’ as both a destructive holding environment and an interpersonal agent in a lethal embrace with human beings. The system of self-in-relation-to-sin is transactional, competitive, unidirectional, and domineering, operating implicitly within an economy of lack. Conversely, Paul’s account in romans of the divine action that moves persons into a new identity of self-in-relationship demonstrates genuinely second-personal qualities: it is loving, non-transactional, non- competitive, mutual, and constitutive of personal agency.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document