Foucault News

Stuart Elden on Foucault and Neoliberalism

Clare O'Farrell

18 December 2014

Peter Gratton adds some further thoughts to the discussion.

Here. I had been rounding up a post on this but never got around to it, and Stuart makes excellent and helpful points (with the modesty to suggest his views are revisable once the book referenced in the Zamora interview is published). Daniel Zamora’s original interview at Jacobin got picked up quickly by two “libertarian” sources at Reasonand at, of all places least likely to see a reference to Foucault, the Washington Post in the form of Daniel Drezner’s piece on “Why Michel Foucault is the libertarian’s best friend.” First, from Stuart Elden:

Foucault’s mode of reading texts often makes it look like he is agreeing with arguments, when he is really trying to reconstruct them, to understand their logic, and so on. To suggest there is some sympathy to neoliberalism is one thing, to claim he was a neoliberal/libertarian or other labels is quite another. Compare these…

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Foucault and Neoliberalism – a few thoughts in response to the Zamora piece in Jacobin

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

18 December 2014

A really useful and informative post by Stuart Elden on the history of the reception of Foucault’s lectures on neoliberalism, in the light of recent activity on this front. He comments ‘Foucault’s mode of reading texts often makes it look like he is agreeing with arguments, when he is really trying to reconstruct them, to understand their logic, and so on’.

Progressive Geographies

I’ve been away, but several people have been sending me links to a recent string of articles on Foucault’s supposed sympathies to neoliberalism. The start of the debate – in English at least – was the translation of an interview with Daniel Zamora at Jacobin. The interview relates to a book entitled Critiquer Foucault: Les années 1980 et la tentation néolibérale which has just been published. Clare O’Farrell rounds up the key pieces at Foucault News.

The book is a collective work, edited by Zamora. I’ve not read it yet, and suspect that very few of those commenting on it have either. Anything said now is necessarily provisional.

The first thing that struck me was the question – is this news? Foucault’s 1979 lectures on neoliberalism – the misnamed The Birth of Biopolitics – have been widely available for a decade. They were first published in French…

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Ahmad Mohammed Bani Salameh, Foucault’s Descending Individuation: The Unprivileged Under Panoptic Gaze in Shakespeare and Godwin (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

18 December 2014

Ahmad Mohammed Bani Salameh, Foucault’s Descending Individuation: The Unprivileged Under Panoptic Gaze in Shakespeare and Godwin, Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, Vol 41, No 3 (2014)

Update October 2025: Journal site not connecting. Link above is to the listing of the article on ResearchGate

Abstract
This paper presents new critical insights into two selected literary works from the English literature, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and William Godwin’s Caleb Williams, in light of Michel Foucault’s “descending individuation” in Discipline and Punish. Through the lens of this theory, this study illumines these writers’ scathing critique of “descending individuation” in their cultures in which surveillance of individuals goes in an inverse relationship with their socio-economic statuses-namely, the lower one’s social and economic station is, the more liable s/he becomes to panoptic gaze. This paper shows these authors’ dissatisfaction with the flawed justice system of their culture, because surveillance, usually a disciplinary law-enforcement strategy, could backfire if enforced in a descending, prejudiced fashion.

Keywords
Foucault, Descending, Individuation, Disciplinary, Surveillance, Godwin, Shakespeare

Foucault and neoliberalism. Debates (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

5 comments

17 December 2014

The recent interview with Daniel Zamora on neoliberalism is causing quite a stir in the English language world at least.

Brian Doherty, Concerned Leftists Rediscover Michel Foucault Might Not Have Been As Anti-Market as They’d Like on the reason.com site

Daniel W. Drezner, Why Michel Foucault is the libertarian’s best friend, on the Washington Post online site.

The Living Thought of Michel Foucault (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

16 December 2014

Élisabeth Roudinesco: The Living Thought of Michel Foucault
, Verso Books site, 13 November 2014
Élisabeth Roudinesco, author of Lacan: In Spite of Everything, Jacques Lacan & Co. and Madness and Revolution, among many others, on the writing of Michel Foucault, written for Le Monde in May:

Thirty years after his death, Michel Foucault (1926–1984) is famed the world over. Author of a very rich body of teachings whose scope ranges from his critique of norms and institutions to the history of prisons, medicine, madness and sexuality, this philosopher-historian has enticed liberals, social-democrats, erudite scholars and rebels of all persuasions. Each of these different groups, respectively, sees him as an ardent defender of the invention of the self, an unstinting reformist, a sumptuous commentator on ancient Greek and Roman texts, and a brilliant militant for minorities’ causes. In sum, Foucault’s work is more than ever on the order of the day, as demonstrated by the publication of the lectures he gave at the Collège de France between January and April 1981 with regard to subjectivity and freedom.

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Foucault and Politics. A Critical Introduction (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

15 December 2014

Mark G. E. Kelly, Foucault and Politics. A Critical Introduction, Edinburgh University Press, Nov 2014

Further info

A clear and critical account of Foucault’s political thought: what he said, how it’s been used and its influence today

This book surveys Michel Foucault’s thought in the context of his life and times, utilising the latest primary and secondary materials to explain the political implications of each phase of his work and the relationships between each phase. It also illustrates how his thought has been used in the political sphere and examines the importance of his work for politics today.

One of the most prominent theorists in the contemporary humanities and social sciences, Foucault is known as a radical thinker who disturbs our understanding of society. He also presented a moving target, continually changing his concerns and his apparent position. So, until now, comparatively little attention has been given to his politics.

Key Features

Engages with Foucault’s entire corpus, from his first works right up to his posthumously published Collège de France lectures and the unabridged version of the History of Madness
Looks at the theoretical reception of Foucault’s thought and how it has been applied to real-world problems
Student-friendly text boxes highlight and explain key ideas

Recovering Ethical-Political Action in Government: An Introduction to the Symposium — Foucault’s Last Lectures and Their Implications for Public Administration (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

14 December 2014

Thomas J. Catlaw, Recovering Ethical-Political Action in Government: An Introduction to the Symposium — Foucault’s Last Lectures and Their Implications for Public Administration, Administrative Theory & Praxis, 36(2), 2014, 157-174

Further info

Abstract:
An introduction is presented in which the author discusses articles within the issue on topics including democratic political theory of political theorist Chantal Mouffe, the concept of parrhesia as described by philosopher Michel Foucault, and practice of parrhesia in public administration.

Keywords: public administration, governmentality, biopolitics, parrhesia, ethics, Michel Foucault, Chantal Mouffe

Disposable Life – Jean Franco (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

13 December 2014

Disposable Life – Jean Franco

Histories of Violence is a multi-media forum dedicated to exploring the theoretical, empirical and aesthetic dimensions to violence. Founded and Directed by Dr. Brad Evans, this trans-disciplinary project provides an open access platform for the specific purposes of academic and public engagement; knowledge transfer; political discussion; philosophical reflection; along with exhibiting works which directly engage the perennial problem afflicting human life.

A Weekend of Schizo-Culture. Event (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

12 December 2014

A Weekend of Schizo-Culture

Further info

Schizo-Culture: The Event, The Book

The closing Schizo-Culture Weekend will activate many of the subjects touched on by SPACE’s current exhibition: Schizo-Culture: Cracks In The Street.

12–14 Dec 2014

SPACE, 129–131 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 3RH

Free entry

Discussions ranging across themes such as anti-psychiatry, philosophy and disciplinary rationalities (and their intersection with artistic practice today) will be programmed alongside performances, screenings and more impromptu interventions. Musical performances from Saturday afternoon will re-visit the bristling energy of 70′s Schizo-anarchy and its legacies and will run into the late evening.

Entry to the weekend is free and open to all,

There will be a bar open throughout.

The event includes contributions from activists, artists, philosophers, filmmakers and musicians including (amongst others) : Sylvere Lotringer, Susan Stenger, Kodwo Eshun (The Otolith Group), Colin Gordon,Vivienne Dick, Patrick Staff, Plastique Fantastique (David Burrows & Simon O’Sullivan and collaborators), 0rphan Drift (Maggie Roberts & Lendl Barcelos) Ciaran Smyth (Vagabond Reviews), Anna Hickey Moody, Hester Reeve, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Anne Tallentire, Josephine Wikstrøm, Mischa Twitchin and Empty Cages Collective with additional surprise guests and contributors: further details to be announced.

Schedule:

Friday 12 Dec
3pm: Talk and discussion with Sidsel Meineche Hansen and Josephine Wikstrøm
6pm: Film screening and talk with Imogen Stidworthy on her practice and the work of Fernand Deligny

Saturday 13 Dec
1pm until late: A day-long series of discussions, performances, interventions, workshops, screenings ranging from anti-psychiatry and philosophy to prisons and music, and featuring amongst many others Sylvere Lotringer, Susan Stenger, Colin Gordon, Kodwo Eshun, Vivienne Dick, Plastique Fantastique, 0rphan Drift (Maggie Roberts & Lendl Barcelos), Hester Reeve, Mischa Twitchin, Ciaran Smyth (Vagabond Reviews), Anna Hickey Moody and Empty Cages Collective. The gallery will remain open late into the evening.

Sunday 14 Dec
12pm-6pm: An afternoon of projections, informal drop-in and schizo-screenings including work by Sylvere Lotringer, Vivienne Dick and material from the Semiotext(e) archive.

Weekend curated by Katherine Waugh & David Morris

Supported by the the Arts Council England and the Institut Francais London.

Additional support from Broadstone Studios, Dublin

Rosie Meade, Foucault’s Concept of Counter-Conduct and the Politics of Anti-Austerity Protest in Ireland (2014)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

11 December 2014

Rosie Meade, Foucault’s Concept of Counter-Conduct and the Politics of Anti-Austerity Protest in Ireland, Concept: The journal of contemporary community education practice theory, vol 5, no. 3, 2014

Further info and link to full PDF

Abstract

Since the announcement of the Irish recession in 2008, there has been much media and popular speculation regarding the apparent failure of the Irish people to collectively resist austerity. The socialisation of private banking debt and successive fiscal ‘adjustments’, which have seen huge reductions in public spending, disproportionately impacting on the Irish community and voluntary sector (Harvey, 2012), have not generated sustained opposition from civil society. Apocryphal stories of Greek protesters chanting ‘we are not like Ireland’ or the current Irish Minister for Finance Michael Noonan’s threats to print t-shirts with the slogan ‘We’re not Greece’, belie a more complex reality. Evidently, as Laurence Cox (2012) has observed in this journal ‘responses from working class communities and social movements’ have been ‘minimal’ In the absence of a widely-shared and enacted anti-austerity politics, there have been regular manifestations of localised or sectoralised opposition to welfare retrenchment, service withdrawal, and the introduction of new levies or charges (Allen, 2012). It is important to note, however, that their achievements to date have been variable.

Keywords

Neo-liberalism; Austerity; Anti Austerity; Foucault