Foucault and the neoliberal art of government

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
The art of government … which has now become the program of most governments in capitalist countries, absolutely does not seek the constitution of … [a] standardizing, mass society of consumption and spectacle, etcetera… It involves, on the [...]

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Foucault and television

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
What bothers me is the quality of French television. It’s true! It is one of the best in the world unfortunately!…
What bothers and irritates me horribly in France, is that you are obliged to look at the program in advance to know what you can’t miss, and you have to arrange [...]

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Foucault and lolspeak

Lolspeak is the ‘pigeon’ language that is used to caption cats on the I can has cheezburger site. Lolcats, as I have mentioned earlier in this blog, have become an internet meme.
I suppose it’s inevitable that people have started making Foucault lolcats – given the popularity of both the cats and Foucault. I [...]

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Foucault and writing

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
No-one is forced to write books, or to spend years elaborating them or to claim to be doing this kind of work. There is no reason to make it obligatory to include footnotes, bibliographies and references. No reason not to choose free reflection on the work of others. It is sufficient [...]

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Foucault and the disciplinary society

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
Quand je parle de société «disciplinaire», il ne faut pas entendre «société disciplinée». Quand je parle de la diffusion des méthodes de discipline, ce n’est pas affirmer que «les Français sont obéissants»! Dans l’analyse des procédés mis en place pour normaliser, il n’y a pas «la thèse d’une normalisation massive». Comme [...]

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Foucault on race and colonialism

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
Le terme de «folklore» n’est qu’une hypocrisie des «civilisés» qui ne participent pas au jeu, et qui veulent masquer leur refus de contact sous le manteau du respect devant le pittoresque…
L’homme est irrevocablemet étranger à l’aurore. Il aura fallu notre façon de penser coloniale pour croire que l’homme aurait pu rester [...]

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Foucault and agency

I believe solidly in human freedom.
Michel Foucault, (2000) [1984]. Interview with Actes. In Power. J. D. Faubion (Ed.). Tr. Robert Hurley and others. New York: The New Press.
An interesting comment in response to my reflections on the Foucault quote for May has prompted me to add these further remarks.
Since the early 1980s Foucault has been [...]

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Foucault, an optimisitic thinker

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com
See here for additional discussion.

Didier Eribon: On vous dit assez pessimiste. A vous entendre je vous croirais plutôt optimiste?
Il y a un optimisme qui consiste à dire: de toute façon, ça ne pouvait pas être mieux. Mon optimisme consisterait plutôt à dire: tant de choses peuvent être changées, fragiles comme elles [...]

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Foucault and ‘theory’

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com

‘Je suis un expérimentateur, et non pas un théorician. J’appelle théorician celui qui bâtit un système général soit de deduction, soit d’analyse, et l’applique de façon uniforme à des champs différents. Ce n’est pas mon cas. Je suis un expérimentateur en ce sens que j’écris pour me changer moi-même et ne [...]

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Foucault, identity and writing

Posted on my site michel-foucault.com

If identity becomes the problem of sexual existence, and if people think they have to ‘uncover’ their ‘own identity’ and that their own identity has to become the law, the principle, the code of their existence; if the perennial question they ask is ‘Does this thing conform to my identity?’ then, [...]

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