With the rise of hustle culture, the grind, and capitalist productivity, we often associate discipline with toxicity. But is there still value in disciplining oneself? In episode 169 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a disciplined approach to this question and more! They discuss modern culture’s rejection of discipline and how this manifests on the left vs the right, the association between discipline and punishment, and Michel Foucault’s seminal ideas on disciplinary power. How can we discipline children without resorting to punishment? And are there models of self-discipline that aren’t rooted in punishment of the self? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss Sandra Bartky’s argument that gender norms are a modern form of disciplinary power.
Works Discussed:
Joan E. Durrant and Ashley Stewart-Tufescu. “What is “Discipline” in the Age of Children’s Rights?.”
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality
Adekunle A. Ibrahim and Philomena A. Ojomo. “Discipline and Punishment in Schools: A Philosophical Appraisal.”
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Highlight: Foucault on Self-discipline
Can we discipline the self and to what extent is self-discipline different from punishment?
We associate discipline with punishment, resulting in an immediate averse reaction to it
Discipline may even seem worse when it’s self imposed
However, there are models of self-discipline that do not suggest punishment of the self
Foucault’s writings on antiquity explore the notion of self-discipline and how subjects throughout history have carried out different projects that require serious training, commitment, and self exertion to discipline their minds and bodies
He uses the Greek term askesis, meaning an exercise or a mode of training that would allow the self to give form to their subjectivity through the application of a certain kind of force
We are always forming the subjects that we are through these self-directed forms of discipline
