ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes a baseline and theoretical background for the discussions which follow, building a position on the complexities of contemporary power and resistance by focusing on a number of key theorists who do not always fit comfortably alongside one another. It outlines Foucault observations of the way in which power began to operate differently under modernity, changing into something decentralised, non-concentrated, and rarely wholly 'possessed' by a group or sovereign individual. For Foucault, modern power plays out via societal norms. Moreover, while Foucault, Butler, Brown, Žižek, Badiou, Dean, and Rancière may differ in their philosophical pedigrees, they nevertheless share a common and overlapping interest in understanding the counterintuitive mechanisms of power and resistance in the context of (post-)modern capitalism. The chapter takes a path between these thinkers, overlooking many contradictions between their thinking in order to allow their interaction to create a framework that incorporates slightly different elements of post-crash power and resistance.
