Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Foucault, Michel – Contibutions in sociology'

My critical essay uses Foucault???s theory of discursive formation to chart the emergence of the figure of the single modern woman as she is created by the various discourses surrounding her. It argues that representations of the single modern woman continue a tradition of perceiving the female body as a source of social anxiety. The project explores ???chick-lit??? as a site within the discursive formation from which the single modern woman emerges as a paradoxical figure; the paradoxes fundamentally linked to her sexuality. This essay, then, essentially seeks to investigate representations of female sexuality within chick-lit, exposing for scrutiny the paradoxes inherent in and around the figure of the single modern woman. My fictional piece is a work of erotica. It is divided into four sections: The Reader, The Writer, The Muse and The Critic. Essentially it explores the relationships between female sexuality and literature; between female sexuality and feminist, post-feminist and patriarchal values and between literature and issues of truth, perspective and representation. The two works complement each other to illuminate the paradox of female sexuality: one from a theoretical perspective and the other from a fictional perspective. The critical work focuses on female sexuality and its relationship to, and development within, the current social context. Chick-lit, as a new and immensely popular genre of fiction which holistically explores the lives of single modern women was useful for examining the relationship between the sexual persona of the single modern woman and society. The fiction is concerned with a narrower focus: specifically the sexual life of the single modern woman. Through the creative process, it became apparent that working within the genre of ???erotica??? would be not only more useful than working within chick-lit, but more powerful in exploring the themes I was interested in. The creative work draws on numerous points of interest raised in the critical work from, for example, the grander notions of the relationship between object and discourse ??? in this case female sexuality and literature ??? and the female body as a source of social fascination and anxiety to finer observations such as what it means to have sex ???like a man.??? In essence, the creative work seeks to examine the many faces of the single modern woman as a sexual being and to illuminate, on an intimate level, the many conflicts between and surrounding those faces and to suggest that while paradox remains in female sexual ideology, the single modern woman will remain suspended in a kind of sexual paralysis.

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In this master s thesis I intend to carry out an interpretation of Michel Foucault s thought that points out the relations and theoretical, conceptual and thematic consequences with sociology in his work and theoretical propositions. For my argumentation and analysis I take as a base a specific part of his thought: the problem of domination in modern societies in the genealogic texts in the decade of 1970. It s about to identify how Foucault does his analysis of the relations of domination and the use of the power with the objective to suggest and point out his contribution to sociological analysis of domination. I will discuss the foucaultian program of the study of domination from four units of analysis: person constitution, knowledge, power and truth. The structure and division of the chapters will follow the specific and detailed study of each of those units of analysis, prioritizing their theoretical sense and consequences to the sociology. Thus, in the first chapter, I will highlight a little more the relations of affinity and the convergences between Foucault and the sociology in a way to offer more elements to justify the general objectives that this work intends to achieve. In the second chapter, I will analyze the subject of domination in Foucault s thought, discussing his basic presuppositions and its intrinsic relation with the heart of the foucaultian philosophical project, the person constitution. In turn, in the third and fourth chapter, I will discuss the interdependence between knowledge and power as an essential and opaque dimension of the ways of modern domination. In the fifth chapter, I will analyze the relation between domination and the truth discourse production
Nesta disserta??o, nos propomos a realizar uma leitura do pensamento de Michel Foucault que privilegie, em sua obra e esquema te?rico, as rela??es e implica??es te?ricas, conceituais e tem?ticas com a sociologia. Tomaremos como base para nossa argumenta??o e an?lise, um recorte espec?fico em seu pensamento: o problema da domina??o nas sociedades modernas nos escritos geneal?gicos da d?cada de 1970. Trata-se de identificar e examinar como Foucault constr?i suas an?lises das rela??es de sujei??o e exerc?cio do poder com a finalidade de sugerir e sublinhar as suas contribui??es para a an?lise sociol?gica da domina??o. Exploraremos o programa de investiga??o da domina??o foucaultiano a partir de quatro unidades de an?lise: constitui??o do sujeito, saber, poder e verdade. A estrutura e divis?o dos cap?tulos seguir? o tratamento espec?fico e detalhado de cada uma dessas unidades de an?lise, priorizando os seus nexos te?ricos e implica??es para a sociologia. Com isso, a domina??o, no pensamento de Foucault, ? definida nos termos das principais pressuposi??es te?rico-metodol?gicas da anal?tica do poder, da rela??o intr?nseca com o cerne do projeto filos?fico foucaultiano - a constitui??o do sujeito -, da interdepend?ncia entre saber e poder enquanto dimens?o essencial e opaca das formas de domina??o moderna e, por ?ltimo, do v?nculo entre domina??o e produ??o de discursos de verdade

Språket har en central roll i diskursanalys eftersom språket formar vår verklighet. På samma sätt bidrar medier till hur vi upplever världen omkring oss. Medier förmedlar representationer av verkligheten och utesluter samtidigt andra. Ett forum där detta sker är sexrådgivningsspalter i kvällstidningar. En klichéartad bild av den sexuella relationen mellan man och kvinna är att mannen ses som styrd av drifter och instinkt medan kvinnan är nästintill ointresserad av sex. Biologiska skillnader används ofta som argument för att hävda olikheter som dessa och en av den här studiens utgångspunkter är att konstruktioner av kön, genus och sexualitet har moderniserats men likväl fortfarande produceras. Syftet med studien är att med hjälp av genusteoretisk diskursanalys undersöka hur kön, genus och sexualitet konstrueras i sexrådgivningsspalter i Aftonbladet och Expressens söndagsbilagor under 2008. Vid diskursanalys är teori och metod nära sammankopplade. De teoretiker som ligger till grund för studien är bland andra Michel Foucault, Judith Butler och Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffe. Genom att kombinera dessa teoretikers perspektiv med varandra har jag funnit ett fruktbart angreppssätt för intresseområdet. Analysen visar på konstruktioner av kön, genus och sexualitet genom att för varje tema med tillhörande underteman ge exempel från analysmaterialet. I samtliga analyserade texter utgår Aftonbladet och Expressens sexrådgivning från att män och kvinnor är biologiskt olika och nästan samtliga texter utgår från att människors handlingar är ett uttryck för en inre genusidentitet som är olika för män och kvinnor. Studien visar att både traditionella könsroller och en obligatorisk heterosexualitet konstrueras i sexrådgivningens diskurs. Inom den hegemoniska sexdiskurs som kvällstidningars söndagsbilagor ger uttryck för är det legitimt att tala positivt om heterosexuella samlag och olika sorters sexdrifter (mellan män och kvinnor) som styrks med referenser till bland annat forskning som legitimerar biologiska skillnader mellan män och kvinnor. Det finns ett snävt utrymme för alternativ till de normativa föreställningar som präglar större delen av analysmaterialet men i den mån de existerar redogör analysen även för konkurrerande och antagonistiska diskurser i sexrådgivning.

Språket har en central roll i diskursanalys eftersom språket formar vår verklighet. På samma sätt bidrar medier till hur vi upplever världen omkring oss. Medier förmedlar representationer av verkligheten och utesluter samtidigt andra. Ett forum där detta sker är sexrådgivningsspalter i kvällstidningar. En klichéartad bild av den sexuella relationen mellan man och kvinna är att mannen ses som styrd av drifter och instinkt medan kvinnan är nästintill ointresserad av sex. Biologiska skillnader används ofta som argument för att hävda olikheter som dessa och en av den här studiens utgångspunkter är att konstruktioner av kön, genus och sexualitet har moderniserats men likväl fortfarande produceras. Syftet med studien är att med hjälp av genusteoretisk diskursanalys undersöka hur kön, genus och sexualitet konstrueras i sexrådgivningsspalter i Aftonbladet och Expressens söndagsbilagor under 2008. Vid diskursanalys är teori och metod nära sammankopplade. De teoretiker som ligger till grund för studien är bland andra Michel Foucault, Judith Butler och Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffe. Genom att kombinera dessa teoretikers perspektiv med varandra har jag funnit ett fruktbart angreppssätt för intresseområdet. Analysen visar på konstruktioner av kön, genus och sexualitet genom att för varje tema med tillhörande underteman ge exempel från analysmaterialet. I samtliga analyserade texter utgår Aftonbladet och Expressens sexrådgivning från att män och kvinnor är biologiskt olika och nästan samtliga texter utgår från att människors handlingar är ett uttryck för en inre genusidentitet som är olika för män och kvinnor. Studien visar att både traditionella könsroller och en obligatorisk heterosexualitet konstrueras i sexrådgivningens diskurs. Inom den hegemoniska sexdiskurs som kvällstidningars söndagsbilagor ger uttryck för är det legitimt att tala positivt om heterosexuella samlag och olika sorters sexdrifter (mellan män och kvinnor) som styrks med referenser till bland annat forskning som legitimerar biologiska skillnader mellan män och kvinnor. Det finns ett snävt utrymme för alternativ till de normativa föreställningar som präglar större delen av analysmaterialet men i den mån de existerar redogör analysen även för konkurrerande och antagonistiska diskurser i sexrådgivning.

Europeiska unionen lanserade under 2010 den Digitala agendan för Europa. Syftet med agendan är att förstärka ekonomin inom unionen genom att implementera en digital inre marknad. Arbetsförmedlingen, som är en viktig aktör på arbetsmarknaden i Sverige, påverkas av kraven från EU:s digitala agenda och genomgår sedan 2014 en djuplodande digitalisering av verksamheten. Det digitala uppdraget beskrivs i Arbetsförmedlingens offentliga dokument som en effektiviserings- och rationaliseringsprocess som grundar sig i digitaliseringen. Genom digitaliseringen har Arbetsförmedlingen skapat nya definitioner av kunden vilket ställer nya krav på att kunderna anpassar sig och blir digitaliserade. Här uppstår en konflikt mellan myndighetens digitaliseringsuppdrag och de arbetssökandes kompetenser. Därför är det viktigt att studera hur den arbetssökande framställs i samband med digitaliseringen på Arbetsförmedlingen. För att förstå framställningen används Michel Foucaults diskursteori och metod för analys. Uppsatsens resultat visar att definitionen om den digitala arbetslösa kunden tillkommit i myndighetens verksamhetsbeskrivningar mellan 2014 och 2019. Av uppsatsens analys framgår att kanalstrategin och förnyelseresan är viktiga delelement i verksamhetens ideologiska grund för implementeringen av digitaliseringen. Uppdraget genom Portföljestyrningen däremot, används för att förstärka implementeringen av de strategiska målen utifrån myndighetens maktposition. Begreppet den digitala arbetslösa kunden skapas ensidigt från Arbetsförmedlingen i verksamhetsplanernas utformning. Det som normaliseras i digitaliseringsdiskursen är kravet på effektivitet som, hand i hand med kundens förväntade digitalisering, visar hur verksamheten ska bedrivas.

While an estimated one-third of the United States population has a tattoo, tattoos are still seen as a sign of deviance. The appearance of the first tattoos in the United States were relegated to the bodies of the lower classes and outcasts of society. Over the past few decades tattoos have migrated on to the celebrity skin of today's pop culture icons. In the past twenty years, tattoos have moved from deviant subcultures to the mainstream, and yet are still considered to be a mark of the disfavored factions of society. The dominant culture continues to regard the bearers of tattoos as social deviants, while at the same time appropriating tattoos for use as fashion statements, beauty enhancements, and mechanisms for continued oppression. While tattoos make their way from the prison cell to the pop culture runway, how are they perceived by law enforcement? Are tattoos still seen as markers of deviance or has law enforcement adopted the mainstream culture's perception and view tattoos as self-expressive artwork? Do tattoos negatively influence law enforcement's judgment where individual discretion is exercised? The purpose of this study was to examine the arrest patterns of arrestees with visible tattoos using a critical theory perspective to determine if tattoos and arrest seriousness are related. This study also examines tattoo placement and type in affecting the severity of arrest charges. The data used in this study is a random sample of 2011 Pinellas County Florida arrestees (N=3,733). Numerous logistic regression models were utilized in this analysis and resulted in no consistently significant association between tattoos (visibility, placement, or type) and severity of offense charges. This provides evidence that the use of tattoos as a marker for deviance does not appear to influence police behavior any differently than other characteristics such as race.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera konstprojektet och bloggen ”Post A Secret” utifrån ett bekännelseperspektiv i allmänhet och ”Post A Secret” som en ny typ av bekännelse i synnerhet. Projektet baseras på att individer anonymt skriver ner en hemlighet på ett egenhändigt gjorda vykort och skickar in till skaparen Frank Warren som publicerar dem på hemsidan. Den tidigare forskningen behandlar två övergripande teman; bekännelse och Internet. Dessa får stort utrymme i uppsatsen på grund av att projektet är en kombination av flera olika medier och infallsvinklar och behöver förstås utifrån den kontext i vilket det konstrueras. Den teoretiska och begreppsliga referensramen ger bakgrund och förståelse för den samtid inom vilken bekännelsen förstås. Med Vivien Burrs socialkonstruktionism i grunden arbetar jag med Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys för att analysera vykortens form och innehåll i varsin del och undersöker även hur de samverkar till att konstruera bekännelsen I analyskapitlet avhandlas även hur projektet konstruerar hemligheten, det autentiska uttrycket, det vill säga på vilket sätt projektet uppfattas som ärligt och seriöst och vad anonymiteten får för konsekvenser för projektet. I en avslutande diskussionsdel för jag ett resonemang kring den hur vi kan se ”Post A Secret” som en ny typ av bekännelse då den främst fokuserar på ett identitetsskapande snarare än ett tvång, men också hur kombinationen av medier och genrer tillsammans med anonymiteten och det estetiska skapar en spänning mellan aktör och betraktare. De förändringar jag funnit gör också ”Post A Secret” till en resurs för att förstå vår samtid genom utnyttja anonymitetens frispråkighet, men kan även användas för att se hur autenticiteten idag söker nya vägar.

O tema da mestiçagem sempre faz remissão à pureza. Sua complexidade deriva do embaralhar das origens que seu fruto configura. Questionar aspectos relacionados a esse tema e às permanências não lineares que ele evoca é o principal foco dos escritos aqui reunidos. Tratase, então, de um olhar perspectivo e genealógico, tal como estabelecido por Foucault, acerca da educação, da alteridade e do Brasil, que tem por alvo ideias que mesclam questões metafísicas e empíricas, como a ascendência e a identidade. Para tanto, dois vetores analíticos foram estabelecidos. O primeiro refere-se à emergência do Brasil como lugar de experiência, definida não como realidade, coisa ou fato que possa ser facilmente objetivada, mas como elemento que se conforma a partir dos discursos de verdade e das práticas concretas que dela emanam. O segundo vetor é o enunciado educar para a diversidade, responsável por relacionar as abordagens acerca da alteridade aos quatro vértices componentes da experiência- Brasil: natureza, raça, miscigenação e cultura. Conforme se defende, esses dois vetores operam a partir de três pares justapostos, que implicam passado/futuro, global/local, civilização/cultura. A apreensão de tal tendência somente foi possível com base na sistemática investigação do arquivo composto para a pesquisa. A fonte privilegiada embora não exclusiva foram as revistas do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, publicadas entre 1839 e 1945. A partir delas e da combinação com diversas outras fontes, foi possível abarcar os enunciados que relacionam o Brasil perante o mundo e o mundo perante o Brasil, com especial destaque para as questões do convívio e das trocas (simbólicas ou comerciais). Diante disso, essas publicações são retomadas ao longo de todo o trabalho, ainda que o espaço de destaque dado a elas seja o primeiro escrito apresentado. Nele, demonstra-se o ensejo do Instituto em dar sentido à história nacional, com o propósito de decidir o lugar dos indígenas e negros na civilização brasileira, resolver os enigmas de seu passado e cultivar um panteão da memória nacional. Essa construção deveria servir para formar um imenso dossiê sobre o Brasil, que conviria a posteriores pesquisadores e daria subsídio à futura instrução pública. O segundo escrito da tese incide sobre os saberes de médicos, antropólogos, filósofos, educadores e pensadores sociais acerca das mestiçagens, nos âmbitos local e global, no passado e na atualidade. Observou-se a reativação, em tempos hodiernos, dos princípios da antropofagia, dos troncos raciais e das mestiçagens, reconfigurados nas atuais diretrizes educativas, que agora incentivam o aprender a conviver na globalização, tanto pelo enaltecimento das misturas culturais quanto pelo incentivo da afirmação identitária. O último escrito relaciona os princípios do reconhecimento, do multiculturalismo e da representação à democracia contemporânea. Nesse regime de verdade que extrapola as funções políticas, a origem e o direito à voz são problematizados a partir de dois mitos fundadores da prática democrática. O primeiro advém da democracia ateniense e o segundo define a chamada democracia racial brasileira. Ambos serão ladeados e contrapostos a partir da ascendência étnica. Ao longo do trabalho, os três escritos relacionam-se a partir da ordenação proposta do arquivo consultado, que faz emergir o Brasil como país do futuro, da convivência e da educação. Sem prescrição ou promessa, a presente pesquisa, busca mapear a emergência de um novo sujeito cosmopolita global, mestiço culturalmente e afirmado numa identidade, que é modelado com base na experiência-Brasil e em suas lições acerca da história e da civilização.
As a theme, crossbreeding always refers to purity. Its complexity derives from the shuffling of origins that is configured by its fruit. Questioning aspects related to this theme and the non-linear permanence it evokes is the main focus of the writings gathered herein. It is, therefore, an angled and genealogical perspective, such as the one established by Foucault, about education, otherness and Brazil, whose target is the ideas that blend together metaphysical and empirical issues, as ascendency and identity. For such, two analytical vectors were called in. The first one is related to the emergence of Brazil as a place of experience, defined not as reality, a thing or fact that may be easily objectified, but as an element that is shaped by the discourses of truth and the tangible practices arising from it. The second vector is the formulation in the phrase educating for diversity, responsible for putting in relation the approaches about otherness involving the four vortices that make up the experience-Brazil: nature, race, crossbreed and culture. As they are advocated, these two vectors operate from three juxtaposed pairs, which allude to past/future, global/local, civilization/culture. Apprehending such tendency was only possible through a systematic investigation of the field built for the research. The privileged source although not exclusively was the journals by the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, published between 1839 and 1945. Based on those journals and by combining other different sources, it was possible to embrace the formulations that relate Brazil before the world and the world before Brazil, with a special highlight for the issues of conviviality and exchanges (either symbolic or commercial). As a result, these publications are resumed throughout the research, even if the highlight they take is the first writing presented. In it, the Institute´s opportunity to assign some meaning to the national history becomes clear, with the purpose of deciding the place of Indians and Blacks in the Brazilian civilization, of resolving the enigmas of its past and of cultivating a pantheon for the national memory. This construction was intended to give rise to a huge dossier about Brazil, which would be convenient to further researchers and would provide subsidy to the future public instruction. The second writing of this dissertation concerns the knowledge of physicians, anthropologists, philosophers, educators and social thinkers about crossbreeding in the local and global scope, in the past and in the current time. It could be noted that the principles of anthropophagy, of racial stems and of crossbreeding were reactivated at the present day, reconfigured in the current educational guidelines which now encourage the idea of learning how to live together in the globalized world, both by the praise of the cultural blending and by the incentives to ethnic affirmation. The last writing relates the principles of acknowledgement, multiculturalism and representation to contemporary democracy. In the regimen of truth which extrapolates the political functions, the origin and the right to be heard are problematized based on two founding myths of the democratic practice. The first myth comes from the Athenian democracy and the second one defines the so-called Brazilian racial democracy. Both will be flanked and opposed by the ethnic ascendency. Throughout the research, the three writings are intertwined by the sorting proposed to the field being consulted, which makes emerge Brazil as a country of the future, of conviviality and education. Without any prescription or promise, this study seeks to map the emergence of a new global cosmopolitan subject, who is culturally halfbreed and statedin an identity, who is modeled on the basis of the experience-Brazil and in itslessons about history and civilization.

Den föreliggande texten är en utifrån ett socialkonstruktionistisk och relativistiskt perspektiv baserad undersökning av relativismens och realismens skilda ontologier. Texten argumenterar för giltigheten i en socialkonstruktionistisk förståelse av det sociala och framvisar ett antal framträdande problem med realismens Weltanschauung. Relaterat till detta behandlas en diskursteoretisk  syn på sociala fenomen tillsammans med etnometodologiskt och foucauteanskt inriktade perspektivs olika uppfattningar om valet av relevant kontext vid samhällsvetenskapliga analyser. Vidare genomförs en diskurspsykologisk läsning av en tidsskriftsartikel, en läsning som framför allt exemplifierar problematiken med realismens konstruktion av verkligheten som objektiv och självframträdande. Slutligen görs i textens avslutande del ett försök att fördjupa den socialkonstruktionistiska kritiken av realismen, framför allt i syfte att antyda en möjlighet att bryta dualismen autonom verklighet–konstruerad verklighet samt utstaka riktningen för en motsättningarnas sociologi.

Young adult literature has developed from a didactic means of behavioral control over adolescents to a means of promoting the reader's psychological development as an independent individual. In contemporary works (1970s onward), the use of Foucault's theory of the Panoptical society has given way to the development of the role of the adolescent rebel. In these novels, a pattern can be seen in which the protagonist defies the control of the Panoptical society and accepts the role of adolescent rebel. In particular, this pattern can be seen in the works of Francine Prose (After), Jerry Spinelli (Wringer and Stargirl), Bette Greene (The Drowning of Stephan Jones), and Gary Schmidt (Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Daughter). Each of these novels shows the adolescent rebel character defying the social ideals centered on age, gender roles, sexuality, and race. This pattern is important to the genre of young adult literature because it not only brings new literary merit to the idea of the "problem novel," but it also aids in the adolescent reader's psychological growth and development, as noted by Lawrence Kohlberg and Erik Erikson.

Although Foucault did not address the question of the animal, he asserted the assessment of whether a new politics of truth can be constituted as "the essential political problem" (1980, p. 134). Though the "essential political problem" may be considered as it relates to the politics of truth about animals, a Foucaultian perspective does not allow a prediction in response, other than the recognition that change may occur. What is understood to be "true" about animals may change if the relationships between events that exist at a given time ("conditions") require the emergence of a different way of knowing. This Foucaultian critique of thought about animals examines "truth" about animals as an historical contingency, variable according to the conditions that have allowed its production. This project contributes to the development of a theoretical context of the politics of truth about animals. The politics of truth about animals is understood to be the push and pull of knowledge generated and perpetuated about them, together with concurrent power apparatuses in support of that knowledge as well as the ever present resistance to that power. By applying and extending Foucault's theory of power -that is, that knowledge is a carrier of power, power is a perpetuator of knowledge, and all power relations have resistances - this work employs Foucault's archaeological method to uncover dominant and subjugated discourses about animals and to describe power-knowledge associated with statements about animals that are understood to convey true things. This project describes the changeable nature of "truth" about animals and, necessarily, the politics of it, since the politics of truth is understood to be propelled by whichever knowledge and associated power are then dominant. Statements in "error" are also examined as resistance to power-knowledge about animals. The project describes subjugated discourses about animals that have been understood in various times and places to have truth-telling powers or, at least, to have been understood as "error," which provided points of resistance to the dominant discourse. It describes the partial derivation of discourse about animals by examining dominant discourses (e.g., the discourse of law and the discourse of lines) and subjugated discourses (e.g., animals are not personal property, karmic discourse, transmigration of souls discourse, rational animal discourse). Additionally, it describes like disperse statements among different referents (i.e., slave, animal, woman) that comprise various discursive formations that have been understood at various times to have truth-telling power about different referents. Subjugated discourse sometimes emerges as new "truth," though no such prediction can be made. To illustrate the point, the project describes the emergence of the new academic field related to the question of the animal, which resurrects or draws from some subjugated discourse (e.g., animals are not personal property).

How much was a medieval monastery reminiscent of a modern prison? Or insane asylum? And if it was in the least - what can such a metaphor tell us about power relations structuring the life of medieval monks? The purpose of this compilation thesis (sammanläggningsavhandling) is to render explicit and analyze relations of power and modes of control comprising the social tissue of early medieval Benedictine monasteries. By bringing up the examples of tenth- and eleventh-century monasteries of St Gall, Fulda, and Bury St Edmunds, this thesis seeks to understand what power was in medieval monasteries, how and between whom it was exercised, what and how it affected in terms of collective and individual identity. The thesis consists of three introductory chapters, four previously published empirical articles, and a concluding remarks section. Article 1 investigates the problem of surveillance and patterns of social control dispersed in the monastery of St Gall. Article 2 studies the early and high medieval institutional expectations and means of enforcement of the monk’s role. Article 3 scrutinizes an example of a persecution process and a set of defense measures in the hands of the St Gall community warding off an unwanted visitor. Article 4 examines a number of internal monastic conflicts from several monasteries and strategies, both political and cognitive, guiding them. In investigating these problems, the thesis proceeds in a manner of deliberate anachronism. It asks questions about how human subjectivity was manufactured in early medieval St Gall, what were a medieval monastery’s ‘conditions of possibility’ to operate as a social regime, or oral and literary means of conflict management etc. The crucial modern social theories on which the thesis hinges are: Erving Goffman’s notion of ‘total institution’, and Michel Foucault’s analysis of power, as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s logic of action.

Orientador: Laymert Garcia dos Santos
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
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Resumo: Neste trabalho são analisadas as práticas e o discurso da tecnociência contemporânea, definida não apenas como fusão entre ciência e tecnologia mas como acontecimento que funciona no interior de uma específica economia de poder e que é caracterizado pela interação e a retroalimentação mútua do capitalismo, da ciência e da tecnologia. São mapeados movimentos e rupturas no funcionamento da tecnociência, examinando a fonte dos financiamentos para a pesquisa, o ethos dos cientistas, as fomlas de apropriação do conhecimento e as políticas de C&T à luz dos conceitos foucaultianos de govemamentalidade e dispositivo. O discurso tecnocientífico atual é analisado a partir do monitoramento de documentos oficiais e declarações públicas de cientistas-empreendedores, policy-makers, ONGs etc. O cruzamento de tais elementos mostra que ciências, técnicas e capitalismo funcionam entrelaçados. Em alguns casos, impulsionando-se mutuamente: cada parte se apoia nos sucessos, na autoridade, nos efeitos de verdade e na potência das outras. Noutros casos, há dissonâncias e atritos. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que a tecnociência atual é, ao mesmo tempo, piramidal e reticular, inexorável e modulável. De um lado, retrata si mesma como fundamentada num saber a-político, neutral, objetivo, universal, que "cai" na sociedade quando aplicado, divulgado, transformado em objeto técnico e em mercadoria. A tecnociência aparece como o bonde que não podemos perder, cuja marcha é automática e cuja regulação deve ser deixada com os especialistas. Por outro lado, no neoliberalismo a tecnociência precisa receber inúmerosfeedbacks, escutar as demandas do mercado e as preocupações do cidadão. Conclui se que a tecnociência atual é um dispositivo qe geometria variável modulado por parâmetros que nem sempre podem ser estabelecidos' nG, il1terior de uma tecnocracia. Funciona ativando mecanismos de despolitização e de inv.isibilização dos conflitos; e constitui-se como implacável politicamente através de repetidas performances voltadas para a mobilização da população e a afirmação de inevitabilidade. No entanto, sua configuração atual é um acontecimento apoiado em terrenos (epistêmicos, econômicos e sociais) movediços
Abstract: ln this work practices and discourse of contemporary technoscience are analyzed. Technoscience is defined not only as the merging between science and technology, but as an event, functioning inside a certain economy of power and characterized by the interaction and reciprocal feedback of capitalism, science and technology. Movements and ruptures in technoscience are mapped by means of the examination of the sources of funding for research, the ethos of scientists, the forms of appropriation of knowledge and S&T policies, using concepts by Michel Foucault, such as govemmentality and apparatus (dispositif). The contemporary technoscientific discourse is analyzed by monitoring official documents and public declarations by entrepreneurs-scientists, policy-makers, NGOs, etc. By crossing such elements, it is shown that sciences, techniques and capitalism function today inside an entanglement. ln some cases, they boost each other: every part is supported by the successes, the authority, the truth effects of the other ones. In other cases, dissonance and friction exist. The results of this research show that contemporary technoscience is, at the same time, pyramidal and reticular; it may seem inexorable, but it may also be modulated. Technoscience depicts itself as grounded on an a-political, neutral, objective, universal knowledge, "falling" down into society when applied, popularized and transformed in a technical object or a product. Its progress is told to be semi-automatic, and its regulation should be left with the experts. On the other side, in neoliberalism, technoscience needs also to receive feedback, to listen to the demands of the market and to the worries of the citizens. It can be concluded that contemporary technoscience is a dispositlf of.variable geometry, modulates by parameters that cannot be always established by a technocracy. It functions by acting mechanisms of depolitization and invisibilization of conflict; it constitutes itself as politically implacable by means of continuous performances of inevitability and mobilization of population. However, its configuration is an event grounded on shifting epistemic, economic and social lands
Doutorado
Sociologia da Cultura
Doutor em Sociologia

In the tradition of the Birmingham School of cultural studies, this thesis focuses on Miami’s graffiti subculture and the conflicts between market economies and economies of social meaning. As a reference point, I consider Miami’s “Penits”: the name given to the seemingly abandoned buildings where graffiti is performed. Short for penitentiary, the term derives from the 1980s after a large building rumored to be a prison was defunded midway through its construction. After this first reclamation, every other graffiti heterotopia in Miami has been similarly recoded as spaces that mock structures of discipline and industry. Through Michel Foucault’s biopolitical framework I argue that the sovereign state and marketplace conspire to dually criminalize and commoditize the subculture’s performative defiance. I conclude by illustrating how the market itself reinforces the carceral archipelago by framing the subculture’s vandal aesthetic through the normalized, self-interested boundaries of conduct that the market itself deems il/legal.

Recherche sur l'existence d'une culture stratégique typiquement occidentale, européenne et américaine, culture qui trouverait l'un de ses fondements dans les représentations des combattants dans la pensée stratégique depuis la Renaissance
Doctorat en sciences politiques
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse fait l'histoire conjointe des notions de " race " et de " dégénération/ dégénérescence " entre le XVIIe et le XIXe siècle. Elle envisage cette histoire tant du point de vue d'une épistémologie historique - " comment race et dégénérescence sont devenues les concepts de savoirs divers " (histoire naturelle, anthropologie, psychiatrie) - et d'une histoire des pratiques de gouvernement - " comment race et dégénérescence sont devenues des problèmes de gouvernement ". En prenant au sérieux la liaison entre ces deux notions, on vise à rendre compte de la formation, au XIXe siècle, d'un champ de savoirs qui se donnent pour objet ce que nous appelons " l'homme anormal ", c'est-à-dire cette figure bien particulière en laquelle la folie, la criminalité et les races " inférieures " viennent communiquer comme autant de déviations de la norme humaine, à la lisière du normal et du pathologique. Notre thèse décrit les catégories fondamentales qui organisent ce champ de savoirs. Plus profondément, il s'agit ainsi de montrer comment, loin d'être exclusif d'un discours universaliste et humaniste, loin d'être systématiquement corrélé à un dispositif d'exclusion, le discours de la race et de la dégénérescence est intimement lié à un humanisme théorique et pratique, ainsi qu'à des pratiques d'inclusion qui se focalisent non sur la race, la folie et le crime comme altérités radicales, mais comme des altérations qu'il convient de régénérer, de corriger et de perfectionner par des dispositifs de pouvoir particuliers. Ce sont les ambiguïtés et les apories qui logent au cœur de cette volonté d'inclusion et dans cette analyse de réalités hétérogènes en termes d'altérations d'une norme que nous étudions à travers ce parcours historique. Nous démontrons en particulier le lien profond qui existe entre l'entrée de la notion de " race " dans le champ naturaliste et une position monogéniste ; et d'autre part, qu'on ne saurait comprendre l'entrée de la même notion dans le champ politique et - plus généralement - le développement de tout un ensemble de savoirs sur l'homme anormal, sans les resituer dans la logique du libéralisme politique du début du XIXe siècle.

Sociology has always been forced to establish its "scientific" legitimacy, but this need has never been more strongly felt than today. Constant theoretical shifts and disciplinary fragmentation are viewed as symptoms of some fundamental problems. Assuming the precariousness of the present condition of sociology, this dissertation seeks to understand and explain the driving force behind theoretical shifts in sociology, for they are blamed for many of the problems in the discipline. Through a close reading of Michel Foucault's works, I argue that sociology, like many other forms of knowledge, has attempted to shape the modern person as an ethical subject. Pursuant to this objective, early sociologists attempted to establish a balance between two different kinds of orientation within the discipline, one of which was epistemological and scientific while the other was ontological and discursive. This position was in line with the critical attitude of the time and the emancipatory promises of the Enlightenment, which were nurtured by the early sociologists. In other words, the dual characteristic of sociology was due to a critical interest in changing and shaping the modern social subject. However, this duality gave rise to a tension within the discipline that was extremely difficult to manage, if not impossible. This dissertation examines the tension between the two orientations that has shaped the history of sociology. I read classical sociologists such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber to show that even these positivistic sociologists' theories can best be understood as a form of critique. In particular, I explain how they sought to manage the tension between the epistemological and the ontological aspects of their theories. I also examine Karl Popper's critical philosophy as a more recent attempt to keep science politically relevant. However, I will show that the dilemmas created in sociology are mainly due to a strong epistemological orientation beyond which most contemporary sociologists are not able to move. Sociology may avoid some of its present dilemmas by shifting its critical interest to an ontological path. To show the possibility and merits o f the ontological approach to politics, I read Karl Marx as a classical sociologist whose theory exhibits a strong ontological tendency. I above all discuss Michel Foucault's work extensively in order to both explain the nature of sociological theories and to explore the possibility and the prospects of the separation of the epistemological and the ontological sociologies more systematically. My aim is to show that while scientific sociology tries to advance without becoming intrinsically political, an explicitly discursive or ontological approach to contemporary political questions can be adopted by interested political actors and sociologists alike.

The inextricable link between muscularity and masculinity has been increasingly accentuated over the past fourty years, resulting in behaviours that can become unhealthy from a variety of perspectives. Gender is often enacted through manipulating and altering morphologies which can ultimately affect the way one perceives her or his own body. This thesis introduces the term megamusculinity, embodying the links between corporality, muscularity and masculinity. Primarily affecting men, megamusculinity is an exemplar of gender performance where one follows strict dietary and exercise regimens in the pursuit of (gross)muscularity. Much of the academic discussion of gender and body perception focuses primarily upon body size. Shifting the emphasis from body size to regimes of the self, this analysis posits megamusculinity and eating disorders as parallel pursuits, not antithetical realms of extreme morphologies. Foucauldian logic will be blended with Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory to examine megamusculinity as gender performativity with a multitude of social underpinnings. In a world where rules and resources (following Giddens’ articulation of structures) shape everything individuals do, what is occurring in the case of megamusculinity is individuals are actively creating a hypertrophied reality by negotiating their way through the disciplinary constraints of various social structures. This thesis builds upon the psychological construction of muscle dysmorphia as a clinical disorder and introduces megamusculinity, situated not as a “personal trouble of milieu” but a “public issue of social structure” (Mills 1959: 8). In doing so, this thesis will demonstrate that the body perception disturbances of certain men are influenced by experiences with particular social factors/institutions, and positions megamusculinity parallel to eating disorders by focusing upon the regimes of the self involved in altering one’s morphology.
Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2010-12-22 20:42:33.636

This thesis explores how photography has been used in the governing of subjectivities and draws on the following three forms of governmentality identified by Michel Foucault: biopower, discipline and ethics. In photography's early history discourses on character and insanity privileged visual observation and the camera was used as a more precise extension of the clinician's eye. With the emergence of Freud's "talking cure" the use of still-photography in treatment and diagnosis was generally neglected until the 1970s when the medium was re-configured as an ideal technique for accessing the unconscious. Currently Phototherapy clients, with the aid of a therapist, use personal photos in order to identify and modify problematic aspects of self. I draw on Michel Foucault's second and third period work in order to investigate these shifting relationships of photography to subjectivity.

Les principes néolibéraux fondés sur la mise en concurrence des individus les uns contre les autres ont contribué aux profonds bouleversements du monde du travail depuis les années 1970, autant dans ses dimensions objectives (conditions de travail) que dans ses dimensions subjectives (rapport au travail). Michel Foucault et plus tard Pierre Dardot et Christian Laval ont fait l’analyse de la généalogie de la pensée néolibérale, construisant l’idée qu’un « sujet néolibéral » allait émerger, dont la caractéristique serait l’adoption d’un ethos entrepreneurial. À l’aide d’entrevues semi-dirigées, le terrain d’analyse de la représentation pharmaceutique fut sélectionné, car il a été jugé particulièrement propice à l’émergence d’un tel ethos, alors que les entreprises de cette industrie encouragent l’adoption d’initiatives entrepreneuriales. L’analyse du corpus d’entretien a permis l’émergence de trois ethos idéal-typiques, soit « le compétitif », « la carriériste » et « le familial ». Ces ethos ont illustré la diversité des rapports au travail que nous pourrions retrouver dans la société québécoise. Ce travail de recherche permet d’avancer les réflexions critiques sur le néolibéralisme et ses répercussions sur notre rapport individuel et collectif au travail.
Neo-liberal principles based on competition between individuals against each other have contributed to the profound changes in the world of work since the 1970s, both in its objective dimensions (working conditions) and in its subjective dimensions (relationship to work). Michel Foucault and later Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval analyzed the genealogy of neo-liberal thought, constructing the idea that a "neo-liberal subject" would emerge, whose characteristic would be the adoption of an entrepreneurial ethos. Using semi-structured interviews, the field of analysis of pharmaceutical representation was selected because it was deemed particularly conducive to the emergence of such an ethos, as companies in this industry encourage the adoption of entrepreneurial initiatives. The analysis of the interview corpus led to the emergence of three ideal-typical ethos, namely "the competitive", "the careerist" and "the family man or woman". These ethos illustrated the diversity of relationships at work that we could find in Quebec society. This research work makes it possible to advance critical reflections on neoliberalism and its repercussions on our individual and collective relationship to work.