Deck 3: D: Contemporary Social Theories

Question 1

Outline Said's three kinds of Orientalism,and discuss the consequences of this type of thought.

Answer 1

1.Academic Orientalism refers to knowledge that is produced by academics,government experts,historians,sociologists,and anyone else who is producing information or writing about the Orient.Said perceives that this knowledge is not neutral but is embedded in power relations.
2.Imaginative Orientalism refers to any representation making a basic distinction between the Orient and the Occident.These representations may include art,novels,poems,images,and social descriptions.
3.Institutional Orientalism refers to the institutions created by Europeans such that they could gain authority over,alter,and rule the Orient.
The consequences of this type of thought is that the East is characterized as inferior,childlike,and incapable of progress and development.This is in stark contrast to the characterization of the West as superior,rational,and developed.As such,the East is to be feared and is in need of being controlled (by pacification,research,and complete occupation).This leads to negative foreign relations between Western and Eastern nations.

Question 2

Discuss how Foucault's concepts of power,discourse,and discipline lead to the process of normalization,and discuss the consequences of this process.

Answer 2

According to Foucault,power is not a thing possessed by one individual over another.Rather,he views power relations as being created within social relationships.As such,power relationships are multidirectional,can be found everywhere,and are always at work.Power relations,then,can produce particular forms of behaviour.Power is also linked with knowledge.Truths and facts come together in systems that Foucault refers to as discourses,which guide how we think,act,and speak about a particular thing or issue,as well as determine who is authorized to speak.Moreover,discourses not only tell us what the world is,but also what the world ought to be like.Foucault uses the term discipline to mean how we come to be motivated to produce these particular realities.Power operates by producing some behaviours while discouraging others.Such disciplinary power is exemplified by the normalizing judgment-a type of internalized (self-policing)coercion that divides,classifies,and controls through regulation.The consequences of this process is that power,discourse,and discipline together create normalization,a social process by which some practices and ways of living are marked as "normal" and others are marked as "abnormal".Normalization,then,is a method of standardizing,of creating the standards by which we live in our society.Those that are considered abnormal,or live by different standards,find themselves having to resist these structures of power.

Question 3

Discuss and explain the three main areas of queer theory.

Answer 3

1.Desire: Queer theory wants to open up the concept and reality of desire as wide as possible.It is not solely concerned with marginalized sexualities.Queer theory aims to disrupt categories of normal sexuality and acceptable sexuality and allow instead for sexuality's diverse and numerous expressions.
2.Language: Queer theory is concerned with how language is related to power.It is impossible to disentangle language from knowledge since language is the vehicle of knowledge.Queer theorists ask us to consider the fact that language is not transparent.Rather,queer theorists argue that it is value-laden as opposed to being a neutral description of some reality.
3.Identity: Not some coherent entity that emerges from within our "souls," making us who we are.Rather,identity is socially produced and is fluid and multiple.Our understanding of others and even of ourselves is always partial and contextual.Identity is constructed through social relations and through discourses around gender (man versus woman)and sexuality (straight versus gay)and thus there are no core identities.Queer theorists use this idea as a way to reveal and renegotiate the social inequalities in society.That is,if everyone's identity is constructed,then no one person's identity (including one's sexuality)should be the standard by which another's identity is measured.One's identity is no more normal than,say,the comparison of paintings wherein one is considered normal compared with another one-they are simply different.

Question 4

Discuss what does Giddens means by the quote "In high modernity,trust and risk are inseparable" and its relation to globalization.

Question 5

Explain Said's concept of Orientalism and discuss some of the criticisms against it.In your opinion,are these criticisms valid? Why or why not?

Question 6

Explain how post-structuralists challenge the views of Enlightenment thinkers,with support from Foucault's theories of knowledge and power.

Question 7

Develop an essay in which you discuss the US government's response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans from a critical race theory perspective.

Question 8

Compare and contrast the theories of Marx and Gramsci,and particularly their concepts of ideology and hegemony.

Question 9

Compare and contrast Smith's and Marx's ideas of ruling relations and where the power lies in society.

Question 10

How does the Canadian case of R.D.S.vs.The Queen demonstrate that,according to critical race theorists,legal principles such as "justice is blind" are not always upheld?