Foucault’s Second Doubt: Prescription vs. Repression
Michel Foucalt, a French philosopher and social scientist made a hypothesis stating how all social
practices, mainly individual’s discursive practices when it comes
...
Foucault’s Second Doubt: Prescription vs. Repression
Michel Foucalt, a French philosopher and social scientist made a hypothesis stating how all social
practices, mainly individual’s discursive practices when it comes to sex, reflect the nature of power relations
within that society, called the repressive hypothesis. Through his hypothesis, he draws attention to “three
serious doubts”. The second of these three doubts is called the historico-theoretical question, which bring
upon the question “Do the workings of power, and in particular those mechanisms that are brought into play
in societies such as ours, really belong primarily to the category of repression?” (Mod.2, pg 7). Through the
presentation of this doubt, Foucalt considers how repression of an action can actually motivate individuals
into committing the unwanted act, instead of preventing them from it. Foucalt states how prescription is a
better way to deal with these type of situations, considering it will most likely lead to the same results as
repression without prohibiting the person from anything.
Prescription can very well be more effective compared to repression due to a person’s natural
tendency to acquire curiosity to such actions they are prohibited from. This thought is most common in
teenagers because of their wants to experience and try out new things, in order to find out their true selves.
For instance, drugs and alcohol, are common examples of things that teenagers often want to try out.
However, when the teenager’s parents prohibit their child from doing such acts, the child is more likely to
perform the prohibited acts due to their increase in curiosity. Alternatively, if the parents were to educate
their child about the consequences of doing drugs and drinking alcohol, it can be more affective because the
child will now be aware of what complications they will experience if they were to go against their parent’s
wants.
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