Revista Polis e Psique
On-line version ISSN 2238-152X
Abstract
FERREIRA, João Leite. The Analytic of Subjectivation in Michel Foucault. Rev. Polis Psique [online]. 2017, vol.7, n.3, pp.7-25. ISSN 2238-152X.
The goal of this article is to discuss the analytic of subjectivation developed within Foucault’s research. In conjunction, we explore the possibilities of rendering this analytic functional within qualitative research. We work mainly with lectures, texts and interviews from 1978 in which Foucault investigated subjectivity as a practice of freedom. His movement of thought from understanding subjectivation as produced under coercive practices to a more autonomous reflexive subjectivation occurs as a consequence of his research on governmentality. As such, subjectivation comes to be thought along two vectors: as practices of subjection and as practices of the self. Associated to a critical attitude towards governmentality, the second vector is explored from 1980 on, as having a collective, institutional and political character. Research, as conceived by Foucault as a different mode of thinking from what was previously thought, now constitutes an important dispositif of subjectivation.
Keywords : Foucault; Subjectivity; Power relations; Governmentality.