This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Willcocks, L. P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Michel Foucault in the Social Study of ICTs

Critique and Reappraisal

London School of Economics

Despite the considerable cross-disciplinary influence of Foucault’s work, he is, the article argues, unjustly neglected in the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially in the information systems (IS) field. The article argues for the abiding relevance of Foucault’s oeuvre. His thinking on techne and technology is reviewed, and a critique of his relative neglect in the IS discipline is provided. The article then critically evaluates and illustrates how he can and has been used in the study of ICTs in IS, organization, management, and surveillance studies, and, more recently, by those studying network society, technobodies, and cyberspace. The article concludes by pointing to the potential for utilizing Foucault in deconstructing the growing interest in ICT-supported knowledge management and related systems and understanding control in liquid modernity.

Key Words: Foucault • information and communication technology • network society • cyberspace • knowledge management • control theory • technology • critical theory

Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 24, No. 3, 274-295 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0894439306287973


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?