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Michel Foucault

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Alternative Theoretical Frameworks for Mathematics Education Research

Abstract

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) lived and worked in the midst of vibrant intellectual, social and political times. Along with Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Jean-Francois Lyotard and other intellectuals, Foucault can be considered as part of a ‘postmodern sensibility’. He was critical of Aristotle for his essentialism, Descartes for his Cogito, Kant for his humanism, Hegel for his notion of progress and totality and Habermas for his utopianism. Some commentators have argued that Foucault’s work is a paradigmatic example of ‘postmodern’ thought. ‘Some commentators have argued that Foucault’s work is a paradigmatic example of ‘postmodern’ thought’ despite his own reluctance to the term. Despite Foucault’s own resistance to both terms, most texts write about him as a thinker within this tradition.

His thinking has made major contributions to social theory and includes (i) power/knowledge analyses, (ii) an analysis of the self and its emergence through disciplinary technologies and (iii) an analysis of governmentality. These analyses evolved over a period of time and involved distinct stages of his work. They included three key concepts: discourse, power and knowledge, and definitions given to these concepts are generally considered far reaching. In this chapter, we explore those concepts and discuss examples of research in mathematics education that have taken up and applied these Foucauldian concepts to analyse the circulation of power within schools and governing institutions. We then analyse the classroom discourse and interaction patterns to understand how language not only produces meaning but also positions speakers in specific relations of power. With an interest in understanding why and how students work at mathematics in the way they do, Foucauldian tools reveal who has access to mathematics and how covert practices unpacked through the discourse work to legislate what thinking will be validated within the classroom.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Margaret Walshaw

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Walshaw, M. (2016). Michel Foucault. In: Alternative Theoretical Frameworks for Mathematics Education Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33961-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33961-0_3

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