subjection

Caesar

is a field of power grounded not in exploitation or domination (i.e. Controlling and extracting) but in identity and cultural formation.

Foucault distinguishes between exploitation, domination, and subjection (1982:212). He argues that most analyses of power concentrate almost exclusively on relations of domination and exploitation: who controls whom, and who extracts the fruits of production from the producers. The third term, subjection, focuses on that aspect of a field of power farthest removed from the direct application of force. That dimension of power relations is where the identity of individuals and groups is at stake, and where order in its broadest meaning is taking form. This is the realm in which culture and power are most closely intertwined. Foucault sometimes calls these relations 'governmentality,' and the term is a helpful one. (in Rabinow 1986:260).

is the constitution of subjects through micro-processes of normalization which promote self-surveillance.

Subjection can now be understood as 'the constitution of subjects' through micro-processes of normalization which promote self-surveillance.

is the simultaneous subordination and forming of the subject.

The Foucaultian postulation of subjection as the simultaneous subordianation and forming of the subject assumes a specific psychoanalytic valence when we consider that no subject emerges without a passionate attachment to those on whom he or she is fundamentally dependent (even if that passion is 'negative' in the psychoanalytic sense' (Butler psychic life 7).

subjection, n.Definitions

subjection