Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework

Juming Shen; Xuhui Jiao

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

| Peer-Reviewed

Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework

Juming Shen, Xuhui Jiao

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Received: 27 February 2022 Accepted: 16 March 2022 Published: 29 March 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.

Published in	International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
Page(s)	48-54
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Poststructuralism, Michel Foucault, Post-Foucauldian Era, Governmentality

References

[1]	Mo, W., Foucault and structuralism. Journal of Fudan University, 1994 (5): p. 15-22.
[2]	Mo, W., Foucault's theory of state government. Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy, 2007 (5): p. 155-123.
[3]	Shen, J., Open educational resources in China: A governmentality analysis. 2015, Suzhou: Soochow University Press.
[4]	Gorby, P., Foucault's Analysis of Modern Governmentality: A Critique of Political Reason. Foucault Studies, 2021 (30): p. 84-87.
[5]	Foucault, M., Security, territory, and population, in Ethics: Subjectivity and truth, P. Rabinow, Editor. 1997, New Press: New York, United States. p. 66-71.
[6]	Foucault, M., Governmentality, in Power, J. D. Faubion, Editor. 2000, New Press: New York, United States. p. 201-222.
[7]	Dean, M., Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. 1999, London, United Kingdom: Sage.
[8]	Gillies, D., Developing governmentality: Conduct3 and education policy. Journal of Educational Policy, 2008. 23 (4): p. 415-427.
[9]	Rose, N., P. O'Malley, and M. Valverde, Governmentality. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2006 (2): p. 83-140.
[10]	Lemke, T., The birth of bio-politics: Michel Foucault's lecture at the College de France on neo-liberal governmentality. 2001.
[11]	Mckee, K., Post-Foucauldian governmentality: What does it offer critical social policy analysis. Critical Social Theory, 2009. 29 (3): p. 465-486.
[12]	Rose, N., Governing the soul: The shaping of the private self. 1999, London, United Kingdom: Free Association Books.
[13]	Foucault, M., Truth, Power, Self: An interview with Michel Foucault, in Technologies of the Self, L. H. Martin, H. Gutman, and P. H. Hutton, Editors. 1988, University of Massachusetts Press: Amherst. p. 9-15.
[14]	Foucault, M., Truth and power, in Power, J. D. Faubion, Editor. 2000, The New Press: New York, United States. p. 111-133.
[15]	Hindess, B., Discourses of power: From Hobbes to Foucault. 1996, Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell.
[16]	Bray, D., Social space and governance in Urban China: The Danwei system from origins to reform. 2005, Stanford, United States: Stanford University Press.
[17]	Sigley, G., Chinese Governmentalities: Government, Governance and the Socialist Market Economy. Economy and Society, 2006. 35 (4): p. 487 - 508.
[18]	Kipnis, A. B., Audit cultures: Neoliberal governmentality, socialist legacy, or technologies of governing. American Ethnologist, 2008. 35 (2): p. 275-289.
[19]	Dutton, M., Passionately governmental: Maoism and the structured intensities of revolutionary governmentality, in China's governmentalities: Governing change, changing government, E. Jeffreys, Editor. 2009, Routledge: Hoboken, United States.
[20]	Harwood, R., Negotiating modernity at China's periphery: Development and policy interventions in Nujiang prefecture, in China's governmentalities: Governing change, changing government, E. Jefferys, Editor. 2009, Routledge: Hoboken, United States. p. 63-87.
[21]	Jefferys, E., China's governmentalities: Governing change, changing government. 2009, Hoboken: Routledge.
[22]	Habich-Sobiegalla, S. and J.-F. Rousseau, Responsibility to choose: Governmentality in China’s participatory dam resettlement processes. World Development, 2020. 135.
[23]	Zhang, C., Governing (through) trustworthiness: technologies of power and subjectification in China's social credit system. Critical Asian Studies, 2020. 52 (4): p. 565-588.
[24]	Kipnis, A. B., Governing educational desire: Culture, politics, and schooling in China. 2011, Chicago, United States: The University Chicago Press.
[25]	Foucault, M., What is critique?, in The politics of truth, S. Lotringer and L. Hochroth, Editors. 1978, Semiotext: New York, United States. p. 23-82.
[26]	Stenson, K., Sovereignty, biopolitics and the local government of crime in Britain. Theoretical Criminology, 2005 (9): p. 265-287.
[27]	Clarke, J., et al., Creating citizen-consumers: Changing publics and changing public services. 2007, London: SAGE.
[28]	Cooper, D., Productive, relational and everywhere? Conceptualising power and resistance within Foucauldian feminism. Sociology, P1994. 28 (2): p. 435-454.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Juming Shen, Xuhui Jiao. (2022). Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. International Journal of Philosophy, 10(1), 48-54. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Juming Shen; Xuhui Jiao. Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. Int. J. Philos. 2022, 10(1), 48-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Juming Shen, Xuhui Jiao. Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. Int J Philos. 2022;10(1):48-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19,
  author = {Juming Shen and Xuhui Jiao},
  title = {Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {48-54},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20221001.19},
  abstract = {From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework
AU  - Juming Shen
AU  - Xuhui Jiao
Y1  - 2022/03/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 48
EP  - 54
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
AB  - From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.
VL  - 10
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Juming Shen

Academy of Future Education, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
Xuhui Jiao

Academy of Future Education, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Juming Shen, Xuhui Jiao. (2022). Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. International Journal of Philosophy, 10(1), 48-54. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Juming Shen; Xuhui Jiao. Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. Int. J. Philos. 2022, 10(1), 48-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Juming Shen, Xuhui Jiao. Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework. Int J Philos. 2022;10(1):48-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19,
  author = {Juming Shen and Xuhui Jiao},
  title = {Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {48-54},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20221001.19},
  abstract = {From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework
AU  - Juming Shen
AU  - Xuhui Jiao
Y1  - 2022/03/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 48
EP  - 54
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.19
AB  - From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.
VL  - 10
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download