Gramsci and Foucault : a reassessment

Mapping the resonances, dissonances, and linkages between the thought of Gramsci and Foucault to uncover new tools for socio-political and critical analysis for the twenty-first century, this book reassesses the widely-held view that their work is incompatible. With discussions of Latin American revolutionary politics, indigenous knowledges, technologies of government and the teaching of paediatrics in post-invasion Iraq, complexity theory, medical anthropology and biomedicine, and the role of Islam in the transition to modern society in the Arab world, this interdisciplinary volume presents the latest theoretical research on different facets of these two thinkersa (TM) work, as well as analyses of the specific linkages that exist between them in concrete settings. A rigorous, comparative exploration of the work of two towering figures of the twenty-first century, Gramsci and Foucault: A Reassessment will appeal to scholars and students of social and political theory, political sociology, communication and media studies, and contemporary philosophy. ** Review 'This provocative, pluralistic, and wide-ranging volume explores critically and productively convergences, dissonances, and potential synergies between the work of Gramsci and Foucault. Ranging from philosophical reflections through the staging of virtual dialogues to exemplary case studies that demonstrate significant complementarities, this is an important, timely, and unique contribution to rounding out the literature on these two critical intellectuals and political activists.' Bob Jessop, Lancaster University, UK 'Foucault and Gramsci is a much better alternative for our times, than the polemically overdetermined formulation Foucault or Gramsci. In reassessing Foucault and Gramsci and their respective legacies conjuncturally, this volume goes a long way in clarifying and elaborating the relationship between macropolitics and micropolitics, between a politics anchored in hegemony and post- and counter-hegemonic practices of resistance and speaking truth to power, between the world as irreducibly local and the world as necessarily global and relational.' Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan, University of California Irvine, USA; author of Edward Said: A Dictionary and History, The Human, and the World Between About the Author David Kreps is Senior Lecturer in Information Systems and Director of the Centre for Information Systems, Organisations and Society at the University of Salford, UK. He is the author of Cyborgs: Cyborgism, Performance and Society. 1. Introduction / David Kreps -- 2. The politics of truth : for a different way of life / Alex Demirovic -- 3. Rethinking the Gramsci-Foucault interface : a cultural political economy interpretation oriented to discourses of competitiveness / Ngai-Ling Sum -- 4. Power and resistance : linking Gramsci and Foucault / Marcus Schulzke -- 5. Building a Gramsci-Foucault axis of democracy / Jean-Paul Gagnon -- 6. Subalternity in and out of time, in and out of history / Sonita Sarker -- 7. The passive revolution of spiritual politics : Gramsci and Foucault on modernity, transition and religion / Jelle Versieren and Brecht de Smet -- 8. Post-neoliberal regional integration in Latin America : Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra America (ALBA) / Efe Can Gurcan and Onur Bakiner -- 9. The hegemony of psychology : the practice and teaching of paediatrics in post-invasion Iraq / Heather Brunskell-Evans -- 10. The complexity of social systems : could hegemony emerge from the micro-politics of the individual? / David Kreps Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Tables 8 Notes on Contributors 10 Foreword 14 Preface 24 1 Introduction 26 2 The Politics of Truth: For a Different Way of Life 36 3 Rethinking the Gramsci鈥揊oucault Interface 56 4 Power and Resistance: Linking Gramsci and Foucault 82 5 Building a Gramsci鈥揊oucault Axis of Democracy 100 6 Subalternity In and Out of Time, In and Out of History 116 7 The Passive Revolution of Spiritual Politics 136 8 Post-Neoliberal Regional Integration in Latin America 156 9 The Hegemony of Psychology 180 10 The Complexity of Social Systems 196 Index 208 Edited By David Kreps. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.