A Foucault Primer: Discourse, Power and the Subject

I had never been immersed in Foucault's philosophies, and was only introduced to one chapter of writing in my PhD studies. I wanted to get a real basic understanding of his work, and when I read the abstract for this book thought it would provide me that solid introduction. However, I found it more of an interpretation of Foucault's thinking from a critical perspective, rather than an accurate reflection of what Foucault's philosophy was about or as he had intended. I also found it difficult to follow some of the thoughts and concepts as they were presented (I had to keep re-reading back and forth), so did not find it to be the "crips and concise" primer I anticipated.

Extremely helpful

I bought this book as a present for a friend of mine. He said the book was alright and that it contained some of the topics he needed to prepare his classes. I guess he liked it, or so he said.

More than any other writer, perhaps, Foucault is the poster-child of postmodernism. What little of him I knew I thought was accurate: his emphasis on the concept of power, for instance, I had mistakenly held to mean the dialectic of the powerless and disenfranchised against the rich and powerful. This book helped me to discover that this simplistic view of power is a serious misconception. Foucault's version is much more complex and profound. And I would go so far to say that until you have encountered his important ideas on this subject, you will be at a serious disadvantage in understanding the present age.This book at first blush looks like an easy read, but rest assured it is not. The first page has a striking sentence, which I kept coming back to: "We do not believe that F provides a definitive theory of anything in the sense of a set of unambiguous answers to time-worn questions." I finally interpreted this to mean that the authors do not consider F to be a philosopher per se but rather a social theorist.Without doubt, the most difficult chapter in this little book is the second, "Discourse." Discourse is a nebulous term, not only referring to an academic field of study such as history or psychology, but also, in F's sense of the word, to "a set of conditions which enables and constrains the socially productive imagination." Such discourses "can come into contention and struggle. This struggle is no more clearly seen than in the social sciences . . . where what Kuhn calls paradigms may compete for dominance in a particular field." The authors gradually relate discourse to what passes for truth at a particular historical period, and thence to politics and the subject of power.Chapter three, "Power", is unquestionably the most rewarding. In brutally short terms, F writes: "We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it "excludes"; it "represses"; it "censors"; it "abstracts"; it "masks"; it "conceals". In fact, power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth." F's conception of power provides "a far more complex picture of modern society than Marxism allows". And: "He does not ask who is in power? He asks how power installs ITSELF and produces real material effects, where one such effect might be a particular kind of subject who will in turn act as a channel for the flow of power itself." Thus F sees the rich and powerful as channels, subject to the same unpredictable flows of power as are the powerless.The book as a whole is a little on the dry side. And if you are looking for philosophy per se, you will find yourself disappointed; this is more about the analysis of society. But it is an unquestionably valuable resource, and a very challenging read. If you don't have the patience to read through F's works but want to get a non-trivial grasp of F's main ideas, there is no better place to look.

This is great for anyone who reads Foucault and wishes they were back in school so a professor could help explain what it all means.

A nicely presented analytical discussion of Michel Foucault's writings. Its not a simple subject to understand but this book certainly helped me.

For those struggling with essays, this book is the must. It clearly outlines Foucault's main ideas and provides critical evaluation of major tenets of foucauldian studies.

For those struggling with essays, this book is the must. It clearly outlines Foucault's main ideas and provides critical evaluation of major tenets of foucauldian studies.