Social Theory of Foucault

Running head: SOCIAL THEORY OF FOUCAULT
Social Theory of Foucault
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1SOCIAL THEORY OF FOUCAULT
Social Theory refers to an analytical framework or a paradigm that is used for the
interpretation of social phenomena. Social theory is used for making the distinction and the
generalization among the various kind of societies and it helps in analyzing modernity that
has emerged in the last centuries. Michael Foucault is a French philosopher and a social
theorist whose theories helps in addressing relationship in between the concept of power and
knowledge (Dillon & Neal, 2015). This essay describes the contemporary theorist and
explains the value of his social theory. It elaborates on the flaws of his social theory and
explains how it can be used to enhance the understanding of that of public health.
Michael Foucault was French postmodernist who was instrumental in shaping
understanding in relation to power. Foucault stressed in the idea that power was present
everywhere and his work was a departure from the previous ideas of power. He held power to
be diffuse instead of being concentrated and he held the notion that power was enacted
instead of being possessed. He constituted power to be discursive instead of being purely
coercive. Foucault challenged the traditional notion of power that held it to be synonymous
with coercion but instead they thought of power to be pervasive (Zamora & Behrent, 2016).
According to Foucault, power comes from different areas and power can be said to be not an
agency or a structure. Foucault thought of power to be like a regime of the truth that pervades
through the society and undergoes constant changes. Foucault made use of the term power for
signifying that the power gets constituted with the help of accepted form of the knowledge.
Foucault stated that truth was produced with the help of multiple form of the constraint. Truth
can help in inducing regular effect pertaining to power. Each society possesses regime of the
truth which means the kind of discourse that it accepts and functions as being true. The
regime of truth is brought about with the help of scientific discourse and it is reinforced with
the help of education system and media. Foucault did not conceive of power to be a negative

2SOCIAL THEORY OF FOUCAULT
or a repressive thing which forces people to carry out things against their wishes but it acts as
a productive force within the society (McHoul, McHoul & Grace, 2015).
The value of the social theory of power and knowledge of Foucault lies in the fact that
he stated that power rose from that of knowledge. He stated that knowledge-power
relationship helped in guiding the course of society and it governed the society in that of the
post-modern era. Foucault held the notion that world was created with the help of language
and post-structuralist perspective of Foucault helped in developing post-modernism. Foucault
thought that language can be said to be conditioned with the help of social structure and
discourse (Lemke, 2015).The value of his theory lies in the fact that he pointed out the inter-
relationship that existed between word and other discourses. Foucault stated that there was no
original definition in relation to truth and he uncovered knowledge that led him towards
power. According to Foucault, truth was produced with the help of power and that power and
knowledge involved one another. The value of his theory of power lies in the fact that it
offered a distinct contribution in relation to knowledge management research and it brought
out the idea that power can also act as a productive force that can help people in the aspect of
collaboration (Crampton & Elden, 2016). The theory of Foucault is valuable from the point
of view of an organization as it believes in the fact that power can help in producing
knowledge within an organization. The social theory of Foucault is of great significance as it
directs attention to relative authority of discourses within the historical context. Value of the
theory of power of Foucault is owing to the fact that it helps in exposing relational character
of the collaborative relation among the members of organisation. It states the relation
between the collaborative relation and the communication practices within an organisation.
The perspective of power that is resource based helps in directing attention to the using of
power resources by a single actor (Lynch, 2014). The value of Foucault’s theory of power
and knowledge lies in the fact that he brought out the fact that discourse can help in shaping