Disciplinary power and education: A foucaultian approach in Social Psychology

Abstract

As a descendant of the Enlightenment, the school is still a vital modern institution, albeit in contemporary post-modern conditions. This article takes a Foucaultian perspective to analyse the power / knowledge and the regimes of truth involved. The arguments is that the power of the school comes from the inertial force of custom, which normalises  the school's disciplinary, sanctionary, instructional, and corrective practices. The modern educational project uses disciplinary methods that promote autoidiscipline and auto-regulation. Its instructional processes promote individualist learning, and its rituals turn habituation into internalisation.

Consistent with the critical sentiments of a Social Psychology of Education, we propose a comprehensive approach to education and its links to acculturation, instruction, and schooling.  We use a critical radical pedagogy and post-structuralist analysis to argue for the need to rethink contemporary education.