Foucault and the promise of power without dogma

Abstract

Foucault’s work on power, governance, and society holds out the promise of power without dogma. To help the reader to understand the allure of such a promise, I will begin with a sketch of Foucault’s reception in the Anglophone academy (those wanting a sketch of Foucault as an especially French thinker, operating in a French and broader European context, would do well to consult Tribe 2009). My sketch, then, is from the perspective of someone who first encountered Foucault in the late 1970s, who has only dealt with him in translation, who is still a fan, but who now has serious doubts about many aspects of Foucault’s legacy.