Michel Foucault in the Social Study of ICTs Critique and Reappraisal

• Published in: Social science computer review Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 274 - 295
• Main Author: Willcocks, Leslie P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.10.2006; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Communications technology; Control systems; Control theory; Critical Theory; Cyberspace; Deconstruction; Foucauldian analysis; Foucault, Michel; Information management; Information systems; Information Technology; Internet; Knowledge; Knowledge management; Liquids; Management; Networks; Organizations; Social aspects; Surveillance; Telecommunications; Theories; cyberspace; control theory; information and communication technology; network society; critical theory; technology; knowledge management; Foucault
• ISSN: 0894-4393; 1552-8286
• DOI: 10.1177/0894439306287973

Despite the considerable cross-disciplinary influence of Foucault’s work, he is, the article argues, unjustly neglected in the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially in the information systems (IS) field. The article argues for the abiding relevance of Foucault’s oeuvre. His thinking on techne and technology is reviewed, and a critique of his relative neglect in the IS discipline is provided. The article then critically evaluates and illustrates how he can and has been used in the study of ICTs in IS, organization, management, and surveillance studies, and, more recently, by those studying network society, technobodies, and cyberspace. The article concludes by pointing to the potential for utilizing Foucault in deconstructing the growing interest in ICT-supported knowledge management and related systems and understanding control in liquid modernity.