Foucault, Psychology and the Analytics of Power

Abstract

Despite that many of the later writings of Michel Foucault speak directly to the subject of psychology, the discipline has yet to absorb the full impact of his critical analyses. Foucault's importance in this respect is at least twofold: he develops a powerful critique of the uses of psychological knowledge and practice in modern disciplinary society, and he offers a trenchant series of methodological injunctions, an 'analytics of power', that makes a reformulation of 'the psychological' possible. Aware of this double priority - of the critical and methodological import of these ideas - Foucauldian Analytics and Psychology introduces and applies Foucault's most important concepts and procedures, and does so specifically for a psychology readership. Drawing on the recently published Collège de France lectures Abnormal (2003) and Psychiatric Power (2006), Foucauldian Analytics and Psychology is as useful to those concerned with Foucault's engagement with the 'psy-disciplines' as it is to those interested in the practical application of Foucault's critical research methods.