Foucauldian

Foucauldian is an adjective used to describe theoretical approaches in the social sciences and humanities that draw on the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. It centers on how knowledge, power, and social institutions shape what counts as truth, normality, and experience, rather than treating these as fixed or universal.

A core Foucaultian concern is the relationship between power and knowledge. Power is not simply repressive but productive, producing discourses, practices, and social categories. Discourse refers to the systems of language, norms, and practices that determine what can be said, who can speak, and what counts as legitimate knowledge. These discourses give rise to institutions such as prisons, clinics, schools, and hospitals, which in turn reinforce and transform social reality.

Key concepts often associated with Foucauldian analysis include discourse, power/knowledge, and regimes of truth, as well as mechanisms of discipline, surveillance, and normalization. The ideas of biopower and governmentality describe how modern states govern populations through norms, statistics, technologies of self-management, and expert knowledge. Methodologically, Foucauldian work employs genealogy—tracing the historical emergence and contestation of practices—and archaeology, which investigates the archive of discourses that underlie knowledge systems.

Subject formation is another central theme: individuals are made into subjects through power relations that shape identities, desires, and behaviors, while resistance and critique remain possible within prevailing structures. The approach has influenced diverse fields, including sociology, anthropology, literary and cultural studies, gender studies, and critical theory.

Critiques of Foucauldian analysis often note potential determinism, historical relativism, or sensitivity to broader economic structures. Nevertheless, it remains a influential toolkit for examining how knowledge, power, and social order are produced and maintained.