NotNormativelyHuman 175
normativity in in the context of the human. To these reflections I will
nowturn.
NormalizingSociety:Foucault
Any discussion of norms, especially those pertaining to the
biologicalsubstance(s)ofhumanlife,willatsomepointneedtoengage
theworkofMichelFoucault.Thisisespeciallysoifthatdiscussiongoes
on inside the disciplinary context of the Humanities and focuses on
forms of human life that bear the stigma of the non-normative, the
pathological. Possibly inspired by the general ascendency of French
theory in the U.S.-American academy, the road most often taken here
hasbeenaFoucauldianone.Thisreflectsanoverallcriticalbiasinfavor
of a philosopher/critic whose work has been praised as "the most
important event in thought of our century" (Veyne qtd. in Merquior 33)
and can indeed be counted among the most cited (perhaps over-cited)
paradigm in the 20th century, according to theISI Web of Science
citationindex.
Foucault's great discovery was that the power of norms operates not
only on the macro level, the visible spaces of social or political
geography, but also, and even more effectively perhaps, micrologically,
as it were, in the intimate domain of individual bodies and minds.
Internalizing the panoply of norms laid down by society and seeking to
conform to them, human beings are not simply controlled—other-
directed,astheFreudiantraditionwouldhaveit^21 —rather,theyareself-
normalizing minionsof social and cultural power structures. This then
led Foucault to the comprehensive analytic of societal normativities he
has become famous for. It bears mentioning, however, that Foucault's
reflections on this subject matter, while copious, differ considerably
over time and do not form a consistent body of theory. Aside from the
normativities of grammar and logic, norms are, for him, mostly means
towardanulteriorend,anendwhichFoucaultmostofthetimeidentifies
(^21) On Foucault's complicated relationship with Freud cf. Derrida's 1991 lecture
"To Do Justice to Freud;" the binary "inner-directed" and "other-directed" is of
course David Riesman'sTheLonelyCrowd:AStudyoftheChangingAmerican
Character.NewHaven:YaleUP,1950.Print.