Jason L. Powell

This book explores the historical developments in social theory and critical theorising about history by Michel Foucault. The book begins by explicating the major conceptual developments in American and European Social Theory. The book moves to analyse the differential theoretical approaches that arose as a direct response to historical problems of the historical world, namely social, political and economic problems. The latter part of the book explores the relevance of Foucault and some of the lessons and implications for historical social theory.

From Historical Social Theory to Foucault

This books explore the relevance and application of the conceptual and theoretical works of Michel Foucault to an understanding of modern society. The book begins by providing a biographical excursion of Foucault's life and works that gives the reader hints of how this thinking of social theory was shaped. The book moves its attention to how conceptual tools he developed are relevant to modern social theory and the interpretation of people, professions and populations in western culture in particular. The book explores the impact of his work on power and the example of social work and how it reshaped such a helping profession. In doing so, Foucault raised both a challenge and impact for social theorists to take up on subjectivity in how individuals make their own histories. Despite this, the book concludes with a re-appraisal of Foucault's work on surveillance and aging prisoners that highlights the sheer analytical diversity of his social philosophy.

Foucault and Modern Society

This book is concerned with demonstrating the relevance and application of Michel Foucault's work to an understanding of human ageing. The diverse range of arguments in the book identifies the ways in which 'ageing' has been organised, shaped and positioned through both knowledge systems and social processes, which impinge on the social construction of ageing. Whilst there has been an escalating array of fields influenced by Foucault's work, ageing has been under-theorised. Indeed, the wide subject matter of Foucault's scholarly work has developed path breaking yet critical perspectives on psychiatry, medicine, punishment, crime and sexuality. The essence of this particular book is that it raises the question of what gerontology as a discipline can learn from Foucauldian approaches. This international volume demonstrates that deployment of Foucauldian theory to gerontological contexts has facilitated disruptions and ruptures of both the meta-narratives inscribed within gerontology: as both discipline and policy, and the ontological status of its subjects.

Foucault and Aging

This book focuses on five themes that link to a compelling argument in the study of ageing and social policy. Firstly, there is a policy context of neo-liberal social policy and implications for older people which is presented, as well as the idea that social construction of ageing focuses on 'ageing body' and its discursive construction by medical and cultural representations. Additional topics discussed include the history of the present develops ideas and discourses of social welfare and ageing; surveillance, power/knowledge and policing of subjects focused on care management and dystopian features of 'care' with related issues of 'elder abuse' and 'institutional abuse'. Reconstructing ageing looks at rethinking power relations and technologies of self in how subjects of knowledge can 'resist' medical discourses and professional power.

A Foucauldian Excursion

Aging and Social Policy

Tony Gilbert

Viewing ageing and identity through the critical lens of both contemporary gerontology theory and postmodernist concepts, the contributing scholars examine a vast range of issues: from disability to clothing; from ageing, health and education to social philosophies and meanings of ageing; and from auto-ethnographic methodologies to rethinking post-modern theories of ageing. These rich examples demonstrate that traditional biomedical models of ageing can no longer give universal and totalising views of ageing. The key issue of the book is to point to the varied social and cultural representations and experiences of ageing and identity formation. The book celebrates the diversity of older people, challenging the bio-medical equation of 'ageing as decline' with exciting and alternative theorisations from post-modern gerontology. Further, a post-modern approach helps to debunk and shatter fixed and limited perceptions of ageing by advocating an alternative expression of ageing; the conceptual and theoretical focus on ageing identity illuminates the self is fluid, changeable and dynamic. This book engages social theory with aging identity by analysing the challenges and opportunities afforded to older people in the 'contemporary age of ageing'.

A Dialogue with Postmodernism

Aging Identity

Tim Owen

There has been an array of literature on the notion of 'postmodernism' in social science literature in recent years. This exciting book focuses on three broad continuities: one, debunking the central theoretical tenets of postmodernism with reference to identity, methodology, governance and modernist theory; two, the book engages with current social issues and events in popular culture: for example, film; professional power, masculinity and terrorism; three, the book also rethinks postmodernism in light of under-researched variables of analysis of time and ageing, the 'body', 'biology' and 'choice'.

Critical Debates

Reconstructing Postmodernism

Jon Hendricks

In recent years, major social forces such as: ageing populations, social trends, migration patterns, and the globalization of economies, have reshaped social welfare policies and practices across the globe. Multinational corporations, NGOs, and other international organizations have begun to influence social policy at a national and local level. Among the many ramifications of these changes is that globalizing influences may hinder the ability of individual nation-states to effect policies that are beneficial to them on a local level. With contributions from thirteen countries worldwide, this collected work represents the first major comparative analysis on the effect of globalization on the international welfare state. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society is divided into two major sections: the first draws from a number of leading social welfare researchers from diverse countries who point to the nation-state as case studies; highlighting how it goes about establishing and revising social welfare provisions. The second portion of the volume then moves to a more global perspective in its analysis and questioning of the impact of globalization on citizenship, ageing and marketization. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society seeks to encourage debate about the implications of the most pressing social welfare issues in nation-states, and integrate analyses of policy and practice in particular countries struggling to provide social welfare support for their needy populations.

Jason L. Powell

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