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Theories of Power

In this session of the “Children in Theory” series, Dr. Guilel Treiber (KU Leuven) introduces the main questions and issues arising from studies on power. He later discusses with Michael Gallagher (Manchester Metropolitan University) the value and applicability of theories of power (in particular Foucault) to studies of childhood.

What are Theories of Power?

Treiber, G. (2022). What are Theories of Power? In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood.  Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool.

In this session, Guilel Treiber introduces the concept of power as it has been analysed and conceptualised in the history of philosophy and political thought. In particular, he attempts to introduce four questions surrounding research on power: What is power? Who has power? Where is power located? How is power operated? It starts with wit the basic claim that power is a strongly contested concept, especially if studied across history. What does it mean to have power? Can power be possessed by individuals? Can it be distributed? Passing through authors like, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Nietzsche, Lukes, Gramsci and Foucault, this video attempts to provide an eagle’s eye view of the forms and manifestations of ‘power’ in theory, and how they are used to interpret reality. Some key issues addressed are:

  • A study of power as family of concepts with contested definitions and understandings.
  • Steve Lukes’ Three dimensions of power, and the importance of Ideology (Althusser) and Hegemony (Gramsci) to understand these dimensions.
  • The location of power, and how it resides in individuals, in collectives, and symbolically.
  • Michel Foucault and the constitutive aspects of power.

Theories of Power and Childhood

Gallagher, M. and Treiber, G. (2022). Theories of Power and Childhood. In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood.  Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool.

Based on the introduction to Theories of Power from the previous video, Michael Gallagher and Guilel Treiber discuss various aspects of power, and how it applies to particular issues of childhood. This conversation between an applied researcher and a philosopher provides great insight into the dynamic relationship between theoretical and applied work on childhood. Among the issues addressed are the following:

  • They explore the role of power in studies of child agency.
  • The tension between protection and participation during childhood from a power framework.
  • The value of Foucauldian analyses of power in studies of childhood.

Further References and Resources

Modern Theories of Power

  • Hobbes, Thomas. 1996. Leviathan. Edited by Richard Tuck. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Machiavelli, Niccolò. 2003. The Prince. Penguin Classics. London ; New York: Penguin Books.
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich. 2011. “On the Genealogy of Morals.” In On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo, edited by Walter Arnold Kaufmann, 15–163. New York: Vintage Books.

Foucault

  • Foucault, Michel. 1978. The History of Sexuality. New York: Pantheon Books.
  • Foucault, Michel. 2003. Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France 1974 - 1975. Edited by Valerio Marchetti and Graham Burchell. London: Verso.

Other Basic Readings on Power, Ideology, and Hegemony

  • Althusser, Louis. 2008. On Ideology. London ; New York: Verso.
  • Arendt, Hannah. 1972. “On Violence.” In Crises of the Republic, 103–98. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
  • Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Thinking Gender. New York: Routledge.
  • Gramsci, Antonio. 1999. The Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings, 1916 - 1935. Edited by David Anthony Forgacs. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
  • Lefort, Claude. 2001. Essais sur le politique: XIXe - XXe siècles. Paris: Seuil.
  • Lukes, Steven. 2021. Power: A Radical View. Third edition. London: Red Globe Press.
  • Said, Edward W. 2003. Orientalism. London: Penguin.

Childhood and Power

  • Ball, S. J. (2019) ‘A horizon of freedom: Using Foucault to think differently about education and learning’, Power and Education, 11(2), pp. 132–144. doi: 10.1177/1757743819838289.
  • Gallagher, M. (2019) ‘Rethinking children’s agency: Power, assemblages, freedom and materiality’, Global Studies of Childhood, 9(3), pp. 188–199. doi: 10.1177/2043610619860993.
  • Gallagher, M. (2008). Foucault, Power and Participation, The International Journal of Children's Rights, 16(3), 395-406. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157181808X311222
  • Philo, C. (2011) Foucault, sexuality and when not to listen to children, Children's Geographies, 9:2, 123-127, DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2011.562376
  • Tesar, M. and Arndt, S. (2016) ‘Vibrancy of Childhood Things: Power, Philosophy, and Political Ecology of Matter’, Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 16(2), pp. 193–200. doi: 10.1177/1532708616636144.
  • Treiber, Guilel. 2021. “From Monster to Child: Ariès, Foucault and the Constitution of Normality.” Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie, no. 83: 323–54.
  • Another common source for Foucault in childhood studies is Geraldine MacNaughton’s book on doing Foucault in early Childhood Studies, but again that’s 2005 so it seems rather old now. I’m not sure how important old vs new is for this. If you want to add that, the details are here: https://www.routledge.com/Doing-Foucault-in-Early-Childhood-Studies-Applying-Post-Structural-Ideas/Naughton/p/book/9780415321006

Other Sources Referenced

  • Ariès, Philippe. 1962. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. Translated by Robert Baldick. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  • Edelman, Lee. 2004. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Koops, Willem Dean. 2004. “Imaging Childhood in European History and Developmental Psychology.” European Journal of Developmental Psychology 1 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405620444000067.
  • Stockton, Kathryn Bond. 2009. The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century. Durham: Duke University Press.

This project has been developed by members of the European Children’s Rights Unit with the support of the British Academy’s Newton International Fellowship award No. NIFBA19\190492KU. For more information on the series, please contact Nico Brando.

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