Power and the sacred: symbols, rituals and dramatizations

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to investigate the intricate mechanisms whereby power relations infiltrate everyday practices and construct us as subjects. Our analy sis starts with a critique of the economism inherent in mainstream conceptualiza tions of power, by relying on Michel Foucault's analysis of power. Then, we set out to answer the following questions: How does the process of subjectification take place? How does one willingly obey, acquiesce to and participate in the dif ferent structures of one's own domination? How does power permeate daily social practices so as to induce an attitude of subjugation that not only renders struc tures of power rational but also submission to them an irreversible fact of natu re? This work attempts to lay the foundations for a general theory of power that would uncover characteristics that hold both for pre-modern as well as modern s ocieties. The focus is not on the institutional or coercive side of power but on the representational side: the realm of significations through which people act and express themselves. Continuous and persistent features such as the intimate link between power and the sacred, the inevitable dwelling of power relations i n collective representations and the social imaginary with its symbolic forms, r itualistic practices and dramatic performances are examined subsequently. Collec tive representations are part of the sacred of respect of every society: the sph ere of beliefs that have binding authority and integrative power over the commun ity. Opposed to the sacred of respect, we will also examine the sacred of transg ression, i.e. the multiplicity of struggles and resistances that foster beneath and alongside the normalizing features of every society. The work is comparative and interdisciplinary in nature as it relies heavily on political anthropology, sociology and philosophy to distill these general features of power