Foucault for Historians

Abstract

Few modern writers have had a more controversial and ambiguous impact than the Frencn writer, Michel Foucault. Condemned by many orthodox Marxists, especially in Britain, as an arch-idealist, his work has been received nevertheless with bafflement by the purveyors of conservative intellectual orthodoxy. And yet, simultaneously, few thinkers, even of those importedfrom France, have had a more unsettling impact on contempor-ry thought, especially the work of left intellectuals. This influence can be traced in a whole series of disciplines and political practices, from sociology and economics, to feminism and sexual politics, from socialist (and sometimes antisocialist) politicaltheory to the writings offorms of history. His actual conclusions, his deployment of evidence, his generalisations from a minimal or specialised amount of material, can be and have been questioned. But his own challenge to the practice of historical investigation cannot easily be shirked; and it has to be understood before it can be effectively responded to. This essay is an attempt to aid that process of understanding.