Education as subjection and refusal: An elaboration on foucault

Abstract

Over the past decade the insights of debates on modernity and postmodernity, in the context of sweeping poststructuralist proclamations of the end of meta-narratives and the death of the subject amidst the diffusion of a globalizing Western culture and intimations of large-scale social change, have begun to infiltrate the field of education. Within the broader framework of poststructuralist criticisms of the assumptions which gird a still-potent modernity, Foucault's work on the generative nature of power, its intimate embrace with knowledge and its role in the constitution of the subject is especially instructive for reconceptualizing modern education. This paper attempts to understand education as a set of mechanisms of subjection, plagued by paradox and designed for failure; and argues that calls to resist this subjection are misconceived and must be refused in favour of generating new kinds of subjects. © 1995 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.