What's the use of Foucault in research on lifelong learning and post-compulsory education? A review of four academic journals

Abstract

This article contributes to a discussion about the potential use of Foucault in relation to the field of lifelong learning and post-compulsory education. It is based on a qualitative analysis focusing on the uses of Foucault in articles published in four academic journals in this field between 1999 and 2006. Four main uses were construed: an interpretative strategy, an eclectic use, a way to pose an argument and decoration. Based on my findings, I argue that the uses of Foucault in this area of research as represented in these journals are, to a large extent, superficial and, to some extent, more in the nature of a revitalised critical discourse. Further, I argue that uses of Foucault, especially as a main interpretative strategy, help us to make visible our taken-for-granted ideas about adult education and lifelong learning; understand how power operates in these practices; and show the effects of such operations.

Keywords:

• Michel Foucault
• post-compulsory education
• lifelong learning