Turning critique inside out: Foucault, Boltanski and Chiapello on the tactical displacement of critique and power

Abstract

The relationship between critique and power is controversial in both society and sociology. Instead of setting a normative yardstick of critique, the article looks to conceptualize the intimate relationship between critique and power based on the observation that both are often displaced in processes of major social change, not least in the recent decades' reversal of hierarchy. The article conceptualizes the main idea about displacement of critique and power on the basis of what Foucault terms the ‘tactical polyvalence of discourse’ and similar ideas from the governmentality lectures. The argument is further developed in a discussion with Boltanski and Chiapello's work on the new spirit of capitalism. The discussion illustrates how effective critiques of power often turn the inside out of normative ideas about conduct or management, which is exemplified in the movement from anti-authoritarian critiques of hierarchy after 1968 to new and flexible forms of government.