Foucauldian theories on power and their social relevance part II

 Returning to the idea of Foucauldian theory one could easily say that it to a large degree can be utilized to discuss power-relations in society. This have led many researchers interested in Foucauldian theory to being labelled as political, system-critical and similar often negative nouns. But is there actually a need for social criticism and utilizing the theories that is not political in nature? In my view it is clearly so, and perhaps researchers actually need to discuss their social worth rather than aiming at changing the world. 

When I started writing my dissertation in 2018 I was rather based from a social-change perspective. The idea here is that we need to produce knowledge to make a social change, and if you see something in society that needs change a good way to achieve that is through research. Whilst this is a theory I to large degree have great sympathy for, this form of knowledge production is but one form of utilization of a Foucauldian perspective. 

Since Foucaults theories mainly revolve around power it might be of intrest to investigate how power and knowledge are actually put into play into society. This might not be based on an idea that a policy area always are in need of change, but rather to investigate the policy in itself. Going back to my own dissertation I wrote on how the idea of the "immigrant" were created in Swedish migrant policy. What I showed was that lawmakers and municipal decision makers often acted out of stereotypization, taken for given assumptions and so on. Whilst this is a political finding in it's core, it also have worth since it is knowledge we would not have otherwise. 

In the field of philology and more precise book history there exists a tradition of "critique". One would easily be mistaken to believe that this implies giving opinions on the books literary qualities, but this actually the case. Instead critique within the field of manuscript studies aims at understanding how close a manuscript is to the original source or original text. This is of great worth not only when it comes to it's classical deployment - bible studies - but also if we wish to use older historical texts as a source of the time they were written. This is due to the fact that texts often are traded and that some parts can be substracted in one edition, or added in another. 



Regarding Foucauldian theories one could see a parallel here. Critique would not be the same as actually critizing a policy. Rather it could be about dismantling the policy in order to understand why it took the shape that it did, and if the taken for granted assumptions actually helped in achieving the policies aim. Therefore, a Foucauldian analysis could actually be utilized as a way to pose a critique of a policy, but not necessarily a political one. 

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