What is Biopolitics? | Michel Foucault | Keyword

In this episode, I present what Michel Foucault means by biopolitics and biopower.
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[@prerna22munshi]

Thanks David! Quite irrelevant of me to point this out but your 'keywords' videos get more views than your full length Saturday uploads. I would request everyone to also engage with the full length content that David uploads (not that his keywords deserve any lesser engagement) but all his videos are actually quite meticulous and well thought out!

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Hahah ya I concur

[@JackSparrow-re4ql]

@@TheoryPhilosophy This isn't very clear. You need to give people precise definitions before discussing particular things.

[@trespaul]

absolutely doing the lord's work. thank you so much for all your efforts

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Happy to hear it ☺️

[@saro8357]

these videos are an essential part of my daily life... thank you for all the effort.

[@Harshlaw]

I discovered your podcast while searching for a good philosophy show to sleep to and your content is amazing. I have been searching for a channel like yours for an eternity. I get to learn something new and sleep well. It's everything I ever wanted from a podcast. I wish you the best for your future endeavors.

[@ahmadsarbani3999]

Man, I am glad to have found you. Better late than never! Keep up with your amazing job!

[@sofiabucaro296]

So engaging! I find your presentation so unpretentious and concise. Thank you!!!

[@sagnikghoshal3233]

“For millennia, man remained, according to Aristotle, living animal with the additional capacity for a political existence; modern man is an animal whose politics places his existence as a living being in question” 😁

[@manvirox1]

This was so so so helpful! Thank you for explaining this so patiently and coherently.

[@noduslabs]

.... and only two comments about Covid. I mean it's pretty on point when we talk about deviation from the norm and medical establishment especially in relation to those people who didn't want to get vaccinated...

[@Ilhemworld]

Thanks for the explanation, a part of my Phd thesis is on Biopolitics, this was really helpful

[@ilyassbouioitlan7701]

Came to check your youtube channel.. been a huge fan of your podcast since pretty much your first upload!

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Happy to hear it ☺️

[@sampritibhattacharyya7271]

Thank you, David. This is immensely helpful!

[@madhurimaguha9090]

Hi David, great job on explaining Foucault. I love your videos and use them as my means of validation that I have understood these concepts when I read them. I was wondering if you would like to do a video on an analysis of postfeminism ( works of Rosalind Gill and likewise). Just suggesting. Keep up the great work :)

[@baranozer7913]

Thank you so much. This is very helpful to understand it easily.

[@fatmazeynepbarokas2204]

Thanks David.I enjoy your podcasts

[@sonaannasiby4415]

Would love to hear your thoughts on Jen Pylypa's essay "Power and Bodily Practice: Applying the Work of Foucault to an Anthropology of the Body" .

[@HoiDongCuu]

Really good. Please do more

[@charlotteelliott3573]

Thank you for this video! I'm doing my Honours degree and I've been trying to decipher some readings by Agamben and this really helped me with some background information!

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

I've also covered some Agamben if you're interested :)

[@ronin.youngblood]

Beautiful vid!

[@luismacabasag4346]

Thank you very much for this!

[@voyagetoart3115]

Thanks David! I just want to ask you what are the Foucault lectures one need to read to have a proper understanding of him? Lectures like The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978--1979. p.s, haven't skipped any ad for you.

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

Norms in regards to physical health don't always suffer through our social norms. Empirical research has shown for example that people that are overweight on average die younger and live lives filled with more pain/discomfort than able-bodied ones. Unhealthy life forms die quicker than healthy ones and are ill suited in the natural world. Look at how old lions will be left to die after being viciously mauled by younger ones in the wild. Not all cases in nature are that extreme but our social norms have sheltered the physically disadvantaged.

[@beautifuldesonance]

Great video

[@hajerzubairu552]

I love your videos !

[@megangallaher4011]

Thank you so much for posting this! I am currently in the weeds now going through the transcribed and translated lectures. It’s a nice reminder that what Foucault is trying to say isn’t so complex!

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

It absolutely isn't! I think some people like to make it seem hard by using big words to make themselves feel smart

[@mayhem213am]

Thank you David.👌

[@TheBuechse]

Thank you!

[@jonadsit753]

Hey David, long-time subscriber and consumer of your work here. Thanks for a super helpful video on this topic. I'm studying for my master's in Geography right now, and I'm doing some projects that implement some aspects of Foucault and have read a number of his works. Right now, I'm working on a project that more or less compares/discusses Foucault's notions of biopower and the Nazi regime with Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism (amid a discussion of imperialism in Eastern Europe and a biopolitical analysis of the 2004 film, Der Untergang). The two authors seem to overlap somewhat in their characterizations of the Nazi regime as 'suicidal' and 'self-destructive' and such. I was planning on citing a bit of you in that work since I'm trying to succinctly explain what biopower is, but I was also wondering if you were familiar with Hannah Arendt's work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, and whether you think there's something of a connection between the two authors and their respective lenses through which they viewed and wrote about Nazi Germany. Thanks for all your awesome work! It's so helpful and interesting.

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

It's been a few years since I've read it, but I plan on covering it on this channel at some point in the next few months. I'll have a better idea then because as of now I really don't remember :/

[@enlightenedanalysis]

Really enjoyed this thank you.

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Thank YOU!

[@sethrasky68]

just discovered this channel and I am glad I did 🙌

[@anitham7917]

Thank you 🌹

[@alexander63736]

thanks dude

[@eliteenglishlearningcenter3101]

He describes power of two levels: Empirical and theoretical. Empirical comprises three types: sovereign, disciplinary and bio power. In theoretical power, he illustrates the features, characteristics of power and its operation. Force relation is spread throughout the society and can only be seen in interplay.

[@clumsydad7158]

thanks for the reminder, sometimes pastoral power is added too

[@HS-bh9dz]

Please, do an episode about Mbembe's concept of Necropolitics!

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

I plan on it :)

[@AeeGee]

Thanks!

[@ShimmersMuffin]

Thank you, this was excellent presentation. It helps very much with my college gender studies.

[@Elenalouisa]

When was this video made/uploaded?

[@DIYDSP]

Thank you. Biopolitics has great implications for animal husbandry wrt to how humans are "raised" based on perceived ideals of what a living creature needs to thrive. E.g. a rancher can count an X% of their herd perishing due to some risky pharmaceutical intervention to increase growth and/or save money and factors that cost in. Then that knowledge is carried over into politicans "raising" human beings. Simply assuming collateral damage of those who are different or even completely (normatively) average!

[@preciousadejumobi]

Could you please compare biopower and symbolic power?

[@anonymoushuman8344]

Is it taboo to talk about biopower in connection with covid-19 responses?

[@ficklefialka309]

what's amazing is that we see the application of F's theories in real time, but no one in academia makes a peep. Hmmm....

[@alexander63736]

actually i find that if you could prepare a script beforehand it could be better because there are times when the train of thought doesnt flow well

[@reverie4632]

I disagree

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

I know it could be tighter, but I don't have a whole lot of free time to prepare that much :/

[@alexander63736]

@@TheoryPhilosophy i totally get that, maybe its in my best interest to increase listening comprehension as well

[@iandempsey6241]

This guy has really good eyebrows

[@hilaassoufi7175]

How would you relate Foucault's theory to mass surveillance imposed to the whole population and justified by anti-terrorism measures?

[@fatmatamgart5186]

انا اريد قراءة في كتاب "المعرفة والسلطة مدخل للقراءة ميشيل فوكو

[@thekratomchannel]

I am wondering when the realization that some of these ideas are triggering a serious radical reactionary movement that cannot be countered directly but will need to be accommodated.

[@clumsydad7158]

peace y'all, important reminders of all the way power is present in society. unfortunately, power is becoming more blatant, violent, and de jure. via foucault we learn no only of traditional sovereign power, but also the concepts of disciplinary power that seeps into our life via our social norms, ideologies, and epistemologies; the pastoral power which can be the warped use of religion instead of healthy spirituality, and biopower where the use of our very bodies is controlled. remember that for every right we have inherent responsibilities to work collectively for goodness. peace all

[@stephaniereed3248]

eyebrows on fleek

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

When you get your eyebrows done, it's impossible to go back

[@miranastana5035]

please add subtitles for difficult terms.

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Weird post but sorry 'Alex,' if you see this, I accidentally deleted your original post when trying to hit reply like a toddler. :/

[@reverie4632]

I don't mind, you seem like a cool guy. It wasn't of much importance either.

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

@@reverie4632 lmao I wouldn't go that far. I am very boring

[@annahd1669]

Great eyebrows

[@armand9199]

Nice brows

[@mandys1505]

Our society is based upon this idea of inclusion or exclusion , which is a privilege for the individual and not a universal right for the individual. Our advertising teaches us from childhood what our norms are, and that to be included within society we must enter this contract to abide with the norms, or face exclusion and shaming, if not outright attack. Our economy is run on this, especially using norms of sexuality. Anything deviating from the beauty standard is excluded from participation in sexuality and is furthermore attacked for even showing itself. This is our conditioning from infancy as citizens of the united states'; I'm not sure about other cultures, but our civilization in north america has this panopticon effect down to an extreme!

[@janetakosuaagyekum2374]

Umm what are some critics of Foucault's work?

[@eddyansah8379]

ayyy Akosua looool enye easy oh hwe

[@janetakosuaagyekum2374]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@janetakosuaagyekum2374]

You are also doing it right

[@eddyansah8379]

@@janetakosuaagyekum2374 yeah how far ?😂

[@janetakosuaagyekum2374]

I'm on it. It's been good

[@Prominent_Gaming]

After watching this video a few more times. I still don’t know what bio politics is. Science class is not for me.

[@hmza._.]

This isn’t a Minecraft tutorial

[@deanmitchell904]

Obesity is certainly a major problem as its the leading comorbidity for COVID deaths... so norms do serve a function and so does fat shaming as it is considered by Foucault, since it is not arbitrary. Clearly. It is very damaging to one's body to be fat.

[@zaggedout]

Weight isn't an arbitrary signifier of health LOL

[@prerna22munshi]

I guess David said the health-weight ratio to be an arbitrary signifier

[@joshuadobson8555]

You know what? Mass doesn't have a relationship to gravity either! quit calling these black holes supermassive, they are entitled to their own reality!

[@theburninator888]

it is - in and of itself - arbitrary, unless you combine it with a bevy of other factors. just saying someone is "unhealthy" because of their weight doesn't really mean anything by itself. you have to take into account, height, muscle mass vs fat mass, activity level, genetic factors, geographic location, etc.

[@zaggedout]

@@theburninator888 literally what are you on about with your mental gymnastics. WEIGHT IS A SIGNIFIER OF HEALTH. END OF STORY LMAO if somebody is 500 pounds you don't need to take anything in to account. what IS a factor of health? you need to get your brain cleaned m8

[@theburninator888]

@@zaggedout obviously over 500 pounds is unhealthy, but that is like less than half of one percent of people. by the other 99.9 percent of people, JUST weight doesn't tell you much. and I listed several other factors, if you read you would know.

[@joedanker3267]

Defining Liberalism partly as " . . . maximizing control over bodies," is one of the most tortured attempts to define a concept I've ever heard. I'll watch a few more of this guy's videos but so far I have little confidence he has anything useful to say. A lot of words and awkward hand motions, not much value or substance.

[@lamegalectora]

I find this person boring and a bit irritating… it must be the way he (she/them?) whistles when he (she/them?) talks, or his (her/theirs?) self-righteousness, his arrogance, shallowness, blandness … zzzz