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Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara and Government Technology

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2015, 28(2), pp.115-140
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Sa Kong Il 1

1부산대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

In Major Barbara, while Barbara, a major in the Salvation Army, hopes to save poor people’s soul through traditional and institutional Christianity, Undershaft thinks only capital can control and govern the world and religion is hypocritical and deceptive. Her view of religion is changed after watching his factory and discussing with him. Finally, she accepts his belief that capital is religion or power. In this sense, this work provides various but conventional interpretations, especially because of his capital power to change her mind. The aim of this paper is to study Foucault’s government technology in Major Barbara, not to analyze the conventional interpretations. According to Foucault, Barbara’s pastoral power is the prelude to governmentality. Her pastoral power controls and governs people by making them subordinated subjects through salvation, obedience, and truth. Intervening the problems both of all and of each individual, it leads to the art of power related to population, which are called discipline power and bio-power. These powers produce homo economicus, who controls himself or herself and is a economic subject, with competition and unemployment pressure in neo-liberalistic capitalism. Of course, Undershaft likes honest laborers like homo economicus. In this situation, His capital power affects all of them and each laborer. Also, His capital power captures Barbara’s pastoral power. As the result, it is possible for him to govern them continually.

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