A review on Foucault and discourse dynamics

Abstract

Foucault’s ideas on power and discourse bring us to a world of a dilemma. Postmodernism and poststructuralism are the approaches stick that to Foucault’s ideas however he still has a different way of expressing within his understanding and highlighting of power. His life also includes many clues about his views and choices as well. Even his main thoughts are based on power and discourse, while explaining these he mentions many other concepts/ideas such as knowledge and power relation, power over the body (biopower), madness and desire. Foucault closely associates power with discourse. He sees the soul in a prison and sees the discourse as the monitor of power. He believes power is relative in this context. Everything seems to find its way in discourse and the discourse is the thing that stimulates the subject. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the relations and structures underlying the discourse to be able to reveal power relations. The aim of this study is to evaluate Foucault's power and discourse dynamics within the framework of his own life and works and to analyze the discussions on this subject. The research is a review article in this direction.