Foucauldian Peacekeeping: On the Dispersion of Power and the Futility of Change

Foucault is widely known for the radical nature of his work, for his idiosyncratic approach to history, and for his reconfiguration of the concept of power. Curiously though, his conceptions of history and power might act to undermine their potential to incite radical critique of systems of education and wider society; resulting in a more patient, restrained and ultimately conservative scholarship than you would at first expect. The apparent points of similarity between Michel Foucault, Herbert George Wells and the reformist, statistician and eugenicist, Karl Pearson, will be outlined in order to exemplify this apparent danger. Whilst Foucault would be at odds with Pearson’s authoritarian view of education, the Foucauldian account of power seems, oddly, to lead to agreement with Pearson on the futility of revolutionary change

Crystal frameworks, symmetry and affinely periodic flexes

Symmetry equations are obtained for the rigidity matrices associated with various forms of infinitesimal flexibility for an idealised bond-node crystal framework \C in \bR^d. These equations are used to derive symmetry-adapted Maxwell-Calladine counting formulae for periodic self-stresses and affinely periodic infinitesimal mechanisms. The symmetry equations also lead to general Fowler-Guest formulae connecting the character lists of subrepresentations of the crystallographic space and point groups which are associated with bonds, nodes, stresses, flexes and rigid motions. A new derivation is also given for the Borcea-Streinu rigidity matrix and the correspondence between its nullspace and the space of affinely periodic infinitesimal flexes.Comment: This preprint has some new diagrams and clarifications. A final version will appear in the New York Journal of Mathematic

Apartheid Baltimore Style: The Residential Segregation Ordinances of 1910-1913

On May 15, 1911, Baltimore Mayor J. Barry Mahool signed into law an ordinance for “preserving the peace, preventing conflict and ill feeling between the white and colored races in Baltimore City.” This ordinance provided for the use of separate blocks by African American and whites and was the first such law in the nation directly aimed at segregating black and white homeowners. This article considers the historical significance of Baltimore’s first housing segregation law

Power

We consider the exercise of power in competitive markets for goods, labour and credit. We offer a definition of power and show that if contracts are incomplete it may be exercised either in Pareto-improving ways or to the disadvantage of those without power. Contrasting conceptions of power including bargaining power, market power, and consumer sovereignty are considered. Because the exercise of power may alter prices and other aspects of exchanges, abstracting from power may miss essential aspects of an economy. The political aspect of private exchanges challenges conventional ideas about the appropriate roles of market and political competition in ensuring the efficiency and accountability of economic decisions