Habermas & Foucault

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SOC 3150 Sociological Theory II: Contemporary Approaches Dr. Day Wong (daywong@hkbu.edu.hk; 3411 7147; AAB 1052) |Habermas & Foucault I | ON POWER Habermas: a juridico-discursive mode of analysis – Represent power in the image of law which prohibits and negates – monarchical power represented in a system of law – power is traced to an identifiable source – assumes that the source of power is internally coherent, stable and identifiable – asks what is the source of power behind local power relations – Need to subject power to the rules of right – principle of legitimation – exercised within its limits, its domain – can criticize the power of monarchy for transgression of the limits – legitimate power ( legal and moral obligation to obey ← Habermas’s theory of communicative action – Parsons: power as medium for goal attainment; as the generalized capacity to secure performance of binding obligations for the realization of collective goals – Emphasize that power asks for not only compliance but also obligation to carry out duties – hierarchical relations of power and possibility of coercion – power cannot be grounded merely on the basis of culture and norms – need a more secure ground for power – critical theory: search for a normative principle for differentiation of legitimate and illegitimate power – power grounded in communicative action ( legitimate – rational discourse and presupposition of ideal speech situation ( power is based on rational agreement and oriented to collective interests ← Habermas’s criticism of Foucault – Lack of a normative principle for differentiating legitimate and illegitimate power – Cannot answer the question ‘why fight’ Foucault: a strategic model of analysis – Concerned with the questions ‘how the
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