Earlier Notion of Power and Historical Development in the Eighteenth Century Studies

Before the systematic definition and categorization of power (especially before Foucault definition), Power used to be taken as a possession of governmental authorities or it used to be taken as the systems for controlling information. Power had been treated as if it were a fixed commodity rather than a set of complex discursive activities.

The change in the concept of power has historical consequences. During the reigns of Elizabeth I, and King George I and George II the immense changes had been occurring in governmental, social and cultural forms in Britain. The revolutions of 1641 and 1688 were equally important, which altered the fundamental assumptions about the monarchy and monarchy was forced to run by the contract with parliament, which was even not assumed before in British history. The social and political power had been increasing on the social front, which brought a greater challenge to aristocratic, authoritative and commercial authority. Finally, in case of religion, the settlement of 1689 definitively institutionalized the Protestant hegemony. Though religious concerns were vital, but up to eighteenth century religion was also in touch with politics. Protestant consensus was though, hegemonic but it made possible to end the unproductive religious diversities in Britain, which finally opened the cultural areas such as ethics, morality, psychology, and human institutions and the cultural areas, instead of looking with religious- Political context, could be viewed in a secular light.

These historical developments taught us, in a different way, to take the notion of power and Foucault taught us the systematic notion of power. Power, for Foucault, is not a fixed object but a multiplicity of relationships and techniques that have continuously to be reproduced and therefore changed in order to maintain themselves. Power and authority often are conceived as a trans-historical abstractions, but their nature, in fact, alters according to social and cultural structuration. Hence the altered notion of power made possible to the eighteenth century development from new- historical and new theoretical parameters.