Violence and the materiality of power

<p dir="ltr">The issue of political violence is mostly absent from current debates about power. Many conceptions of power treat violence as wholly distinct from or even antithetical to power, or see it as a mere instrument whose effects are obvious and not in need of political analys...

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Main Author: Torsten Menge (18140284) (author)
Published: 2019
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author Torsten Menge (18140284)
author_facet Torsten Menge (18140284)
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Torsten Menge (18140284)
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2019-12-07T03:00:00Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Violence_and_the_materiality_of_power/25390660
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY 4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Human society
Political science
Philosophy and religious studies
Philosophy
Power
violence
social ontology
Hannah Arendt
Michel Foucault
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Violence and the materiality of power
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Text
Journal contribution
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
text
contribution to journal
description <p dir="ltr">The issue of political violence is mostly absent from current debates about power. Many conceptions of power treat violence as wholly distinct from or even antithetical to power, or see it as a mere instrument whose effects are obvious and not in need of political analysis. In this paper, I explore what kind of ontology of power is necessary to properly take account of the various roles that violence can play in creating and maintaining power structures. I pursue this question by contrasting the views of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. For Arendt, power is generated and maintained by communicative practices. She argues that power and violence are ‘opposites’ because violence can only destroy but not create these practices. In contrast, Foucault’s conception explicitly allows violence to play a constitutive role in generating power. I argue that while Arendt is right to insist that power and violence are not identical, it does not follow that violence cannot play any role in constituting power. Guided by Foucault’s approach, I formulate a non-dualist account of the relationship between power and violence that takes seriously the role that bodies, material things, and built infrastructures play in making social relations ‘more durable’ and constituting power.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy<br>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344</a></p>
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identifier_str_mv 10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344
network_acronym_str Manara2
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oai_identifier_str oai:figshare.com:article/25390660
publishDate 2019
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spelling Violence and the materiality of powerTorsten Menge (18140284)Human societyPolitical sciencePhilosophy and religious studiesPhilosophyPowerviolencesocial ontologyHannah ArendtMichel Foucault<p dir="ltr">The issue of political violence is mostly absent from current debates about power. Many conceptions of power treat violence as wholly distinct from or even antithetical to power, or see it as a mere instrument whose effects are obvious and not in need of political analysis. In this paper, I explore what kind of ontology of power is necessary to properly take account of the various roles that violence can play in creating and maintaining power structures. I pursue this question by contrasting the views of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. For Arendt, power is generated and maintained by communicative practices. She argues that power and violence are ‘opposites’ because violence can only destroy but not create these practices. In contrast, Foucault’s conception explicitly allows violence to play a constitutive role in generating power. I argue that while Arendt is right to insist that power and violence are not identical, it does not follow that violence cannot play any role in constituting power. Guided by Foucault’s approach, I formulate a non-dualist account of the relationship between power and violence that takes seriously the role that bodies, material things, and built infrastructures play in making social relations ‘more durable’ and constituting power.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy<br>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344</a></p>2019-12-07T03:00:00ZTextJournal contributioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontextcontribution to journal10.1080/13698230.2019.1700344https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Violence_and_the_materiality_of_power/25390660CC BY 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/253906602019-12-07T03:00:00Z
spellingShingle Violence and the materiality of power
Torsten Menge (18140284)
Human society
Political science
Philosophy and religious studies
Philosophy
Power
violence
social ontology
Hannah Arendt
Michel Foucault
status_str publishedVersion
title Violence and the materiality of power
title_full Violence and the materiality of power
title_fullStr Violence and the materiality of power
title_full_unstemmed Violence and the materiality of power
title_short Violence and the materiality of power
title_sort Violence and the materiality of power
topic Human society
Political science
Philosophy and religious studies
Philosophy
Power
violence
social ontology
Hannah Arendt
Michel Foucault