Når kritikken tager magten. Samfundskritik og magtforskydninger ifølge Foucault, Boltanski og Chiapello

Abstract

Artiklen forsøger at begrebsliggøre det teoretiske forhold mellem magtrelationer og kritik, men uden at formulere en ekstern, normativ målestok for den rette samfundskritik. Argumentet er derimod, at eftersom magtrelationer selv rummer muligheden for at internalisere kritikken, må effektiv magtkritik være intern og stå i et intimt forhold til det, der er genstanden for kritik. Dette argument udvikles ved hjælp af en række begreber fra Foucaults magtanalytik, ikke mindst forestillingen om “diskursernes taktiske polyvalens“, som desuden kobles til forholdet mellem kritik og gouvernementalitet. Dernæst vises det i en diskussion af Boltanski og Chiapellos værk om kapitalismens nye ånd, at deres analyse rummer en lignende dynamik mellem samfundskritik og omvending af hierarkierne om end der samtidig også er afgørende forskelle til Foucaults perspektiv på magt og kritik. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Lars Thorup Larsen: When the Critics Take Power: Foucault, Boltanski & Chiapello on Critique and the Tactical Displacement of Power Relations This article seeks to conceptualize the relationship between power relations and critique, but without formulating an external, normative yardstick for critique. On the contrary, the argument put forth here is that since power relations in themselves contain the possibility for internalizing critic, then an effective critique of these power relations must be internal and have a close relation to that which is the object for critique. This argument is developed by connecting the dots between some of Foucault’s concepts – in particular the notions of “contre-conduites“ and the “tactical polyvalence of discourse“ – and a somewhat similar dynamic between hierarchy and critical mechanisms in Boltanski and Chiapello’s work on the new spirit of capitalism. Based on this theoretical conceptualization of the dynamic, in which critique leads to a displacement of power relations, one can better understand the anti-authoritarian thrust of social critique after 1968. While this has not led to a replacement of power with pure self-government, it has however created an internalization of anti-authoritarian critique into new relations of power and government. Key words: Critique, power, governmentality, Foucault, Boltanski.