Dispersed resistance: unpacking the spectrum and properties of glaring and everyday resistance
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Revisiting James C. Scott’s classification of forms of resistance, this paper argues that (hidden, subtle) everyday resistance is only one of many types of small-scale or individual resistance practices. We propose the concept of ‘dispersed resistance’, which might be ‘everyday’ and subtle, or loud and extraordinary. In addition, drawing on Foucault’s works, we suggest at least two ways of conceptualizing dispersed resistance: as ‘productive’ resistance (related to disciplinary power and biopower) and ‘counter-repressive’ resistance (related to repressive and sovereign power). Finally, since power-relations are often composed by an assemblage of repression, discipline and biopower, resistance practices assemble too.
Source: Journal of Political Power
Authors: Mona Lilja, Stellan Vinthagen
Institutions: University of Gothenburg, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Language: English
Topic: Foucault, Power, and Ethics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2806018047