Response #1

In “Discipline and Punish,” Foucault discusses the prison system and the authority illustrated there as a form of power that could be represented by family, religion, state laws, society, and work. Greenblatt discusses the idea of different authorities and different “others” in existence at the same time. Williams seems to see culture as a study of the dangers involving industry, democracy, class, and art. Work has influenced a class system that produces a number of inequalities that writers express in literature and other forms of artistic practice. We do learn much about a time period from its texts. However, much of what an author writes is a reflection of his/her reaction to the historical aspects of that time. Much of our interpretation of that text is our reaction to the events of our own time period. Yes, I do agree that discourse can shape the application of power.