On the lighter side…

Sivacracy wonders why it’s so easy to Photoshop Foucault and provides some funny pics…

Foucault, critical realist?

I would have my doubts about this on first blush, but I suppose you never know. If these “pitfalls” have been assigned to Foucault’s work, perhaps they are just off the mark on the face of it? But perhaps anything that helps repel them is worth checking out. (Whole article not yet read.)

Redrawing Foucault’s Social Ontology
Ismael Al-Amoudi University of Reading, Reading, UK

I propose that Foucault’s works, since he wrote Discipline and Punish rely on an implicit meta-theory that is compatible with the fundamentals of critical realism. To this end I examine the status of truth, methodology and social ontology used by Foucault. If this thesis is correct, then a critical realist reading of Michel Foucault would avoid some of the pitfalls that have been attributed to his works—such as constructivism, determinism, localism, and reductionism. Moreover, this understanding of Foucault’s works would also offer novel and challenging perspectives for researchers adopting a Foucauldian and/or critical realist study of organizations.

Key Words: Bhaskar • critical realism • epistemology • Foucault • knowledge • methodology • ontology • post-structuralism • power • social reality