The Dispositif Is Alive! Recovering Social Agents in Foucauldian Analysis

Johan Gøtzsche-Astrup, Kaspar Villadsen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Michel Foucault's concept of the dispositif is increasingly salient in sociological scholarship. We identify and criticise an ‘anonymous’ emphasis in this scholarship, which often presents the dispositif as an anonymous network that acts without human agents. To remedy this tendency we develop an agent-inclusive version of the dispositif for sociological research. Turning to Foucault's work from the 1970s, we recover descriptions of how social groups act as instigators of dispositifs through their invention of tactics and techniques. We develop these into an agent-inclusive version of dispositional analytics and suggest five steps to pursue in empirical analysis. We exemplify these steps through a historical case of protesting. Finally, we show how our revisionist version of the dispositif meets critiques of Foucault's agentless approach and discuss the implication for a further integration of sociological research with dispositional analytics.
Original languageEnglish
JournalBritish Journal of Sociology
Number of pages15
ISSN0007-1315
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2025

Bibliographical note

Epub ahead of print. Published online: 05 January 2025.

Keywords

  • Agency
  • Discipline
  • Foucault
  • Protesting
  • Security
  • The dispositif

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