Foucault understands subjugated knowledges as holding the potential for resistance. Ransom (1993) argues that this point is crucial in understanding the relationship between feminism and Foucault. She maintains that it is this shared conception of oppression held by a subjugated group that creates friction in the relationship between Foucault and feminism. Ramazanoglu (1993) notes that, […]

Feminists have found Foucault’s critique of liberal humanism not only crucial in terms of recognising the flawed conception of the human subject which characterised Enlightenment thought, but also in his overturning of the objectivity of such thought. Feminist pluralists challenge the claims to universality, value neutrality, impartiality and objectivity of knowledge characteristic of liberal humanism, […]

Foucault’s primary concern in a great deal of his work has not been power as such, but the development of an analytical approach to the subject. In ‘The Subject and Power’ (1982), he begins by stating that the goal of his work has not been to analyse ‘the phenomena of power, but rather to create […]

There are a number of tensions in feminism’s engagement with the Foucauldian conceptualisation of the operation of power. Because power in Foucault can be conceptualised as ever-changing, generating points of intensity, it can also be seen as generating points of resistance. While many forms of feminism are committed to an organisation of the mass of […]

Foucault sees all of his work contributing to outlining the intricate and highly variable forms ofpower in discursive and non-discursive practices. McNeil (1993) notes that at the centre of all Foucault’s enquiries is his concern with the power — knowledge relationship. This can be seen to begin within his early methodological texts, notably The Archaeology […]

On one level Foucault appears to hold much significance for feminism. As Ramazanoglu (1993) notes, he has enabled feminists to look in new ways at the control of women. At another level, Foucault can be said to challenge or even undermine feminism, in that, as Ramazanoglu states, he questions many of feminism’s conclusions about the […]

Michele Barrett, in her text The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault (1991), contextualises Foucault’s concept of ‘discourse’ as the focus of an alternative theoretical model to that of ideology. She defines Foucault as an exemplar of the poststructuralist critique of the theory of ideology, and frames the Foucauldian model within the broader shift […]

The first part of the chapter investigates the significance of Foucault’s concepts of power and discourse for feminist theory. In order to understand the impact of the Foucauldian model for feminist theory and politics it is important to contextualise Foucault’s work within the broader debate within social theory around the epistemological and methodological implications of […]

Discourse, power and resistance INTRODUCTION Poststructuralism, along with postmodernism and psychoanalytic theory, has been among the most important theoretical developments of the twentieth century. Poststructuralist theorists such as Derrida and Foucault have challenged traditional epistemological assumptions about knowledge and truth, in terms of how knowledge can be apprehended and whose knowledge is valorised. The origins […]

At an epistemological level, there is a need for a radical and critical feminist epistemology to challenge the male monopoly of knowledge and exclusion of women from both the production of knowledge and positions of power. However, feminism’s intersection with poststructuralism and postmodernism has led some feminist theorists to voice concern about the direction of […]