Between the Cat and the Principle: An Encounter between Foucault's and Bourdieu's Conceptualisations of Power

Abstract

This article explores the benefits of an encounter between Foucault's and Bourdieu's different conceptualisations of power. The two approaches to power are considered by contemporary research to be irreconcilable, but this article claims that, by engaging both understandings, it is possible to draw a more nuanced map, one which is especially suited to research in power and discourse in educational fields. The article draws on the controversy between Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Schrödinger's wave image (later formulated as Schrödinger's cat paradox) regarding the nature of the atom as an analogy to show why both conceptualisations are needed in order to understand the nature and manifestation of power. Does power operate as a hierarchy within the field, shaping the practices and habitus of the agents through various forms of capital (Schrödinger's wave image)? And is power distributed across fields and is it only through an archaeological and genealogical analysis that it is possible to get a glimpse of power, which is as elusive as Heisenberg's matrix theory (Heisenberg's uncertainty principle)? Analysing educational fields through an approach drawn from Bourdieu, the article applies sociology-specific methods to measure, quantify and visualise power on a contemporary, manifested and present level. Using a Foucauldian approach, it analyses the history of the present in order to understand how the above dilemma came to be and how it is distributed across various discourses, institutions and practices. It is argued that, when analysing power, a destabilised marriage between Foucault and Bourdieu is needed.