Methodological reflections on Foucauldian analyses: Adopting the pointers of curiosity, nominalism, conceptual grounding and exemplarity

This article seeks to provide a set of pointers for methodological reflections on Foucauldian-inspired analyses of the exercise of power. Michel Foucault deliberately eschewed methodological schemata, which may be why so little has been written on the methodological implications of his analyses. Whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean journal of social theory Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 559 - 577
Main Authors Hansen, Magnus Paulsen, Triantafillou, Peter
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2022
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Genealogy
Nominalism
Relativism
relativism
Critique
method
Michel Foucault
genealogy
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Summary:This article seeks to provide a set of pointers for methodological reflections on Foucauldian-inspired analyses of the exercise of power. Michel Foucault deliberately eschewed methodological schemata, which may be why so little has been written on the methodological implications of his analyses. While this article shares the premise that we should refrain from a standardized methodology, it argues that providing broad pointers for analyses informed by the critical ambition and conceptual framework offered by Foucault is both desirable and possible. The article then offers some reflections and general guidelines on how to strengthen the methodological quality of Foucauldian analyses. We argue that the quality of Foucauldian-inspired analysis of modern power may gain from methodological reflections around four pointers: curiosity, nominalism, conceptual grounding and exemplarity.
ISSN:1368-4310
1461-7137
DOI:10.1177/13684310221078926