English 6480

Michel Foucault’s influence on academics and their writing is both wide spread and far reaching.  The citations in this bibliography hardly scratch the surface of Foucault’s impact on the humanities.  In fact, Wikipedia listed Foucault as the most cited scholar in the humanities in 2007.

Annotated Bibliography (Foucault)

Armstrong, P. (1994). The Influence of Michel Foucault on Accounting Research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 5(1), 25-55.

Peter Armstrong discusses how Foucault’s theories have affected the history and sociology of accounting.  Armstrong addresses the concepts of comprehensive surveillance on the individual and disciplinary regimes in relationship to the controls in accounting. The article addresses how these concepts may have been misleading for the discipline.

Butler, J. (2006). Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

Judith Butler, a post-structuralist feminist, introduced her performative theory of gender in this book published in 1990.  Butler uses Foucault’s theories from Discipline and Punish as the basis for her argument that gender is the key cultural agent which affects the body and that gender identity is the result of actions or performance.  Butler also views the body as the prison for the soul.

Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.

In his book, Anthony Giddens, a modern sociologist, presents his theory of structuration which revolves around the concept that either individuals or social influences create social reality.  In particular, he sites Foucault’s theory of how time and space influence disciplinary power.  Ultimately, Giddens views them as a duality that can’t be separated.

  

Oksala, J. (2005). Foucault on freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johanna Oksala book is dedicated to discussing Foucault’s views on freedom which played a large role in Foucault’s lectures and writing.  Oksala divides these views into three separate categories archaeological, genealogical and ethical.  She also addresses Foucault’s theories on phenomenology or the study of how the human consciousness develops.

Saatcioglu, Bige, & L., O. J. (2013). Moral habitus and status negotiation in a marginalized working-class neighborhood. Journal of Consumer Research, Electronic, None Given.

This journal article published in July, 2013 is an ethnographic study about how identity affects consumers in a trailer park. Of particular interest how social hierarchies and power structures influence the purchases of low-income and working class families.  Foucault’s concepts of identity and power can be seen throughout this discourse.