Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and glossary of terms
- Introduction
- one Social divisions, exclusion and retirement
- two Two versions of political economy: ease and plenty or immiseration and crisis?
- three Consumption, consumers and choice
- four Post-work and post-structuralism: first past the post?
- five Risk and post-traditional welfare
- six Looking (or put out) for greener grass? Some comparative measures of ‘success’
- seven Prophets, profits and uncertain conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
four - Post-work and post-structuralism: first past the post?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and glossary of terms
- Introduction
- one Social divisions, exclusion and retirement
- two Two versions of political economy: ease and plenty or immiseration and crisis?
- three Consumption, consumers and choice
- four Post-work and post-structuralism: first past the post?
- five Risk and post-traditional welfare
- six Looking (or put out) for greener grass? Some comparative measures of ‘success’
- seven Prophets, profits and uncertain conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction
This chapter looks at retirement and age-related pensions from theperspective of post-structuralism. It draws on the work of Michel Foucaultand other scholars who identify with his approach. Although Foucault isoften associated with post-modernism, his approach needs to be distinguishedfrom such accounts. Post-modernism and ‘post-traditional’perspectives pose a rather different set of questions that need to beacknowledged, and these are addressed in Chapter Five. Trying to locateFoucault’s work alongside that of post-traditional perspectives, suchas Beck (1992) or Giddens (1994), might have muddied the waters and obscuredtheir respective features. By drawing such boundaries, however, there is thedanger of constructing the sort of distinctions that are rejected bypost-modernists and post-structuralists alike. However, a mitigating factorhere is that these are theoretical models that may appear alien to a socialpolicy readership. Initially the chapter is concerned with the key conceptsdrawn from a broadly defined post-structuralist analysis. Knowledge, powerand discourse are outlined in turn, and examples provided of how these aremanifest within retirement and pensions policy. The significance of theterms power/knowledge/discourse will be fully explored throughout thechapter, but a brief initial explanation may assist the reader.
Power is understood as a feature of all social relationships and although itmay discipline clients, consumers and subject groups, it does notnecessarily mean that they are forced to comply or that their interests areoffended.
For example, medics clearly have a great deal of power in their dealingswith patients but this will usually be framed by the patients desire toget better. It is assumed that the knowledge the medical profession haswill be used benignly, but this knowledge is itself framed in such a waythat the patient (or subject category) is excluded from engaging onanything like equal terms with the medical practitioner. Moreover, thediscourse – the way of thinking, talking and dealing with illness– is structured by the medical profession and the patient/subjectis expected to either engage with this discourse or, quite literally, be‘treated’ as a sick being (Davis, 1988).
Foucault considered knowledge, discourse and power as integrally related andregarded them dispassionately. That is, he is reluctant to blame or toapplaud the experts and the professions which construct their specificclaims to knowledge.
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- Information
- Approaching RetirementSocial Divisions, Welfare and Exclusion, pp. 111 - 142Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2001