Blencowe, Claire (2017) Foucault and political sociology. In: Outhwaite, William and Turner, Stephen, (eds.) Sage Handbook of Political Sociology Volume 2. SAGE. (In Press)

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Abstract

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was one of the most influential French philosophers of the twentieth century – although he himself shunned the title ‘philosopher’ and described himself instead as a ‘historian of systems of thought’. A household name in France and an
international icon of anti-establishment philosophical radicalism during his lifetime, he has since his death become a firmly established member of the canon, not only of continental philosophy but of many other disciplines, including sociology and social theory. As with all
immensely influential thinkers, the meaning of his work for the present is deeply contested. Indeed, the very extent of his contemporary influence – the way that he is taken up as a ‘great thinker’ and authority on questions of method or political theory – seems at odds with his own central commitments to challenging the dominant power relations that are embodied in hierarchies of academic knowledge, as well as the kinds of fantasies of individual agency that underpin the fetishisation of philosophers. Throughout his career, he was perpetually
exploring the power dynamics that are bound up with practices of knowledge, as well as the processes – the modes of ‘subjectification’ – through which possibilities of agency, desire, thought and reason are constructed. He explored these themes through histories of systems
of thought concerning madness, psychiatric care and the ‘psy-discplines’, the human and the human sciences, criminality and its treatment, sexuality, public health, race and eugenics, liberal governance, ethics, and public philosophy.

Item Type:	Book Item
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Publisher:	SAGE
Book Title:	Sage Handbook of Political Sociology Volume 2
Editor:	Outhwaite, William and Turner, Stephen
Official Date:	2017
Dates:	Date Event 2017 Accepted
Volume:	2
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	In Press

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