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Barratt *, Edward Foucault and the Politics of Critical Management Studies 2004 Article Organisation and Management Studies, Foucault Critical Management Studies, Foucault, Power, Politics, Weber, Organisation Studies, Academy, Intellectual Labour, Post-Modernism
Citation Barratt *, Edward 2004 Article Culture and Organization Critical Management Studies Foucault Power Politics Weber Organisation Studies Academy Intellectual Labour Post-Modernism Organisation and Management Studies Foucault

"Foucault and the Politics of Critical Management Studies"

by Barratt *, Edward (2004)

Abstract

This paper explores the different ways in which we read Foucault in management and organisation studies but, more particularly, some of the features of his project that we seem often to exclude. In the context of a growing interest in more ‘engaged’ forms of scholarly practice among management academics, we argue that further consideration of Foucault might have something more to offer. Setting the main arguments in context, we suggest an outline of the dominant ways in which we read Foucault: the identities we assign to him. Hence we know Foucault primarily as a social theorist, genealogist, neo‐Weberian, and postmodernist. We then consider some of the engaged aspects of his project, focusing on his emergence as an activist intellectual in the 1970s. Possible implications for critical management scholars are then considered.

Keywords

Critical Management Studies, Foucault, Power, Politics, Weber, Organisation Studies, Academy, Intellectual Labour, Post-Modernism

Themes

Organisation and Management Studies, Foucault

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