Innovating the Study of Context: Using a Qualitative Study on Subjugation and Resistance to Explore the Utility of Foucauldian Governmentality as a Framework for Enriching Situational Analyses

Abstract

Situational analysis has, as an emerging poststructuralist approach to grounded theory, recently grown in use across a diverse range of disciplines and substantive areas. In this paper, we consider the complementarity of Foucauldian governmentality as a theoretical framework for supporting and enriching situational analyses. Our work is based on the findings of a recent study, informed by situational analysis, in which we interviewed 27 HIV-positive (n=16) and HIV-negative (n=11) gay men ages 50 and over about their health care experiences, and used these data to examine processes of subjugation and resistance reflected in their accounts. Drawing on our analytical process, we consider the utility of governmentality in identifying salient discursive forces within a situation of interest, in theorizing how contextual factors operate on and influence the experiences of key actors in a field of inquiry, and in generating insight on fluid uses of power within an area under examination.