Analysis of the article from Foucault’s perspective Essay

In Discipline and Punishment, Foucault focuses on the major social control institution, which is punitive governing body, or musical arrangement of punishment and prevention of delinquent and deviant behavior. Andrew Jacobs in his article entitled Whistle-Blowers in Chinese City direct to Mental Hospital discusses the judicatures struggle against undesirable, yet legal, actions of citizens comparable petitioning and seeking justice. The present paper is intended to analyze the article through the lens of Foucaults cloth of punishment.First of all, it needs to be noned that neither Foucault nor Jacobs write about the justice as the conceptual and moral foundation of the so-called law enforcement authorities. In Foucaults opinion, what actually underlies the entire punishment system is striving for power as the end in itself in the Middle Ages, for instance, public executions were administered in cases of those criminals who seemingly undermined the rulers power and political influence.The article by Jacobs in fact is additional bear witness of this thesis whereas the citizens do actually nothing unlawful by preparing petitions, they are nevertheless placed in rational health institutions, due to the fact that they to certain degree interfere with the execution of absolute power. This in addition proves the fact that the modern authorities and power/ governance institutions nowadays have become so mixed and autonomous system that they begin to function for their own sake, forgetting about their initial purpose, which consisted in serving the interests of the multitude.Foucault admits that the present-day(prenominal) punishment is free of tortures in order to evoke in potential criminals the fear of the penalty itself, alternatively than the pain and physical suffering.The scholar also adds that science in technology increasingly more a lot serve the purposes of this system so that a number of professionals including lawyers, police officers, engi neers and psychiatrists are involved into the examination and investigation. In this sense, the case of Shandong Province clearly shows that relatively painless measures are used to prevent citizens from excessive petitioning moreover, a successful tandem of police authorities and mental health specialists increase the reliability of this practice During a 20-day stay, he said, he was lashed to a bed, forced to take pills and given injections that made him numb and woozy.According to the paper, when he told the doctor he was a petitioner, not mentally ill, the doctor said I dont accusation if youre sick or not. As long as you are sent by the township government, Ill treat you as a mental patient (Jacobs, par.5). Thus, even health care as a social institution in general is actually an institution of social control, amply supporting and following the ambitions and interests of the existing authorities. Due to the fact that justice-seekers, as it has been noted above, act legally, t hey are not eligible to become prison inmates, so law enforcement agencies send them to mental hospitals.This means, the punishment and corrections system has become so vast and multifaceted that it can now achieve a number of diametric goals, including the goal of imposing a penalty on the individual, whose actions are not fully beneficial for the institutions of power. Thus, such(prenominal) institutions, which serve their own needs, find strategies of curbing unfavorable behavior and select a path of stripped resistance instead of officially declaring active petitioners as criminals (which will result in the need for reviewing and revise the entire legislation), these officials make an open statement that truth-seekers are simply mad and need special checkup treatment.Thus, they even show this situation as the act of saving the society from one more mentally imbalanced citizen and preserving or improving this persons health. Thus, the philosophy ostensibly underlying this pra ctice seems noble, only when it needs to be remembered that the institutions of power and social control work moistly for their own sake and prove to expand and strengthen their influence.Foucault also dedicates a part of his work to describing the concept of correspond. In particular, the scholar asserts that adjust is one of behavioral compliance-gaining techniques, which consists in managing the distribution of individuals in space, controlling their time and clearly defining their relations with the institutions of social control.In this sense, the Chinese authorities obviously seek to introduce a new discipline and eliminate the habit of creating petitions and lawsuit against the governmental institutions, i.e. the practice of hospital confinement is intended to deter individuals from fussy with the governments course. This is actually the heart of discipline the recognition of power, obedience and absolute acceptance of the programs and campaigns of the rule institution s. Moreover, this out of common type of discipline allows finding supporters, who would be the social engines of the promotion and progress of the governments activities.Finally, it is important to focus on the pure concept of punishment as explained by Foucault and intercommunicate by Jacobs. Obviously, hospital incarceration includes all the components of punitive measure including control over the inmates body (i.e. the person depends on the institution in terms of the satisfaction of their basic needs) management of the captives time and activities and, thirdly, modulating the penalty. In the context of the article by Jacobs, the last component means administering additional therapies, which make the person half-unconscious for days or suggesting the release from the institution in exchange for signing a refusal of the petition. Importantly, the inmate is surveilled, but cannot see all of their watchers.As one can conclude, although the incarceration in mental hospitals is not a traditional form of punishment, it is actually similar to the regular imprisonment, because of the similar concepts like panopticism, discipline, painless punishment and the execution of the governments authority.BibliographyRainbow, P. The Foucault Reader. New York Random House, 1984.Jacobs, A. Whistle-Blowers in Chinese City Sent to Mental Hospital