Technologies of Truth: peeling Foucault's triangular onion

Heikkinen, Sakari; Silvonen, Jussi; Simola, Hannu

doi:10.1080/0159630990200109

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The traditional way to present history is to describe a development of a profession from some chronological point designated as the beginning, and this history has a notion of progress and development. Foucault, as a social historian of truths (Heikkinen, Silvonen & Simola, 1999), conceives history in terms of the present and searches for the interrelations of power and knowledge and how these relations create professional identities. The aim is not to uncover one all encompassing truth, but to analyse specific assumptions such as ‘occupational therapists are client‐centred practitioners’, or ‘occupational therapists are autonomous professionals’.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Do not ask me to remain the same’: Foucault and the professional identities of occupational therapists

Mackey

2006

Aus Occup Therapy J

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The roles and frontiers of occupational therapy practitioners in the United Kingdom are being challenged by new ways of organising and regulating the workforce. Professional ways of working are challenged as structures and systems of authority, accountability and autonomy are reviewed and revised. The intention is to create a healthy environment in which jobs, career pathways and work roles are redesigned in order to use staff skills more flexibly. Support workers are taking on tasks previously only performed by state registered occupational therapists. Professionals are delegating tasks to other disciplinary groups, working within inter-professional teams and sharing skills so that one worker can carry out a number of interventions. These new ways of working call for a revision of what it means to be an occupational therapist, a new kind of identity, a new conception of self. Considerations of identity are important because they prompt people to act in certain ways.This article aims to 'excavat(e) our own culture in order to open a free space for innovation and creativity' (Foucault, 1988, p. 163), by discussing the theoretical constructs of social theorist and historian Michel Foucault as they relate to the dynamics of the professional identity of occupational therapy.It is argued that applying Foucault's ideas to the creation of a history of the present occupational therapy profession will illustrate the narrowness of the professional discourse and enable a move into a broader, interdisciplinary and critical practice.KEY WORDS discourse, Michel Foucault, power/knowledge, professional identity, workforce redesign.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a social practice not a solitary exercise. Rather than existing outside relations of power and knowledge, the self can be conceptualised as a third dimension to power — knowledge (Heikkinen et al ., 1999). The intention is to reflect on oneself in order to create new possibilities within relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Do not ask me to remain the same’: Foucault and the professional identities of occupational therapists

Mackey

2006

Aus Occup Therapy J

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“…The basic but simple distinction between them must still be borne in mind, however. Whereas Foucault could be characterised as a historian of truth, a philosophical nomad, always on the move (Heikkinen et al, 1999), Bourdieu was a classical sociologist with a huge output of empirical research. Maybe this is why a comprehensive comparative analysis of their thinking is such a demanding task and one that is largely incomplete.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Power Mechanisms in Education: Bringing Foucault and Bourdieu Together

Hannus

Simola

2010

Power and Education

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The aim of this article is to outline a theoretical framework for an empirical study focusing on the question of how schools from socio-culturally different areas face new governance and its power mechanisms. The authors' aim is to bring together Pierre Bourdieu's and Michel Foucault's approaches to power, capitalising at the same time on Risto Heiskala's recent synthesising theorisation of power. In terms of elaboration, the authors outline a four-dimensional framework in which episteme, ethos, theasis and techne constitute the four faces from the Foucauldian perspective. The respective Bourdieuan contributions constitute linguistic markets, institutional habitus, distinctions, and mechanisms of reproduction. In this treatment, it appears that the strength of the Foucauldian tools in the authors' intellectual box for their empirical research on the effects of new governance is on the level of the political, whereas Bourdieu also provides tools for the analysis of politics. The authors' conclusion is a heuristic device, a catalogue of possibilities, a springboard for field study.

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“…The first is that the Finns share a strong belief in schooling, the second that teaching is rather highly appreciated as a profession in Finland, and the third that the Finnish comprehensive school enjoys rather high trust on the part of parents, authorities and politicians. All three are national 'truths' in a way (e.g., Heikkinen & al., 1999;Simola, 1998;Simola & al., 1998), widely accepted even though there is not too much empirical research evidence behind them. They are definitely constituent parts of the national self-understanding in terms of education.…”

Section: Résumémentioning

confidence: 99%

Education politics and contingency: Belief, status and trust behind the Finnish PISA miracle

Simola¹,

Rinne²

2013

ree

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De nombreux concepts non historiques et décontextualisés tels que efficacité, responsabilité et qualité sont en train d’envahir le monde éducatif sans être remis en question, du fait de leur utilisation généralisée à travers le monde. L’éducation comparative continue à souffrir de certains déficits méthodologiques et d’une sous-théorisation prononcée. Dans cet article, nous tentons d’enrichir cette recherche à partir des concepts prometteurs de contingence, coincidence et Spielraum. Ces concepts nous serviront à présenter le succès finlandais dans les études PISA en illustrant trois croyances largement ancrées dans les débats nationaux en Finlande. Ces croyances paraissent uniques si on les compare à d’autres nations, et elles proviennent certainement de l’histoire nationale finlandaise. La première concerne la confiance forte des Finlandais en l’éducation ; la deuxième veut que le métier d’enseignant soit un métier très respecté dans ce pays ; et la troisième que les parents, autorités et hommes politiques ont confiance en l’école compréhensive finlandaise. Ces trois « vérités » nationales sont largement acceptées même si l’on trouve peu de preuves empiriques pour les justifier. Elles peuvent constituer sans aucun doute des éléments clefs de l’auto-perception nationale en relation à l’éducation. Dans cette contribution, nous questionnons les explications traditionnelles de type fonctionnaliste ou rationaliste de la recherche comparative en éducation.

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Technologies of Truth: peeling Foucault's triangular onion

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

‘Do not ask me to remain the same’: Foucault and the professional identities of occupational therapists

‘Do not ask me to remain the same’: Foucault and the professional identities of occupational therapists

The Effects of Power Mechanisms in Education: Bringing Foucault and Bourdieu Together

Education politics and contingency: Belief, status and trust behind the Finnish PISA miracle

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