Producing the schooled subject: techniques of power in a primary school classroom

Abstract

Drawing upon ethnographic work carried out over a year with a class in a state primary school in Edinburgh, this thesis examines the techniques of power exercised by both teachers and children in the process of schooling. In so doing, it seeks to show how these techniques attempt to produce children as educable subjects, resulting in a series of ongoing, dynamic struggles over the social space of the school.

Chapter one introduces the thesis and the questions which it seeks to answer. Chapter two situates my work within the context of recent social research in geography, childhood studies and education research. Chapter three provides an overview of Foucault's work on the relations between power, knowledge and the subject, and addresses some common criticisms of his project. Chapter four then presents a narrative of how I carried out my research. This details the empirical methods I used, explores my theoretical understanding of these methods, and also includes some critical reflections upon my research practice.

Chapters five and six explore the geography of disciplinary power in the classroom. Chapter five begins with a brief exegesis of Discipline and Punish, Foucault's most well-known work. I review Foucault's conception of docile bodies, before describing a range of techniques used in school by both teachers and children which aim to produce docility. In particular, I explore techniques which aim to produce individuals, both through the spatial separation of children, and through the targeting of non-physical disciplinary measures upon individuals. Chapter six begins with an interpretation of Foucault's infamous account of the Panopticon, before examining techniques of surveillance as they are deployed within the classroom. Throughout both these chapters, my close and careful reading of Foucault emphasises that the systems of discipline he describes are ideal models rather than, as some scholars have assumed, depictions of the real workings of institutions. My empirical material captures the varied permutations and combinations of disciplinary techniques as they are applied, their spontaneous adaptation by both teachers and children, the resistance tactics used to counter them, and the particular ways in which discipline becomes decentralised through the inculcation of self-surveillance. In addition, I reflect upon my own practice in the classroom, describing how I came to be subjected to some of these disciplinary techniques, and was simultaneously coopted into administering them, both over my self and over the children. This admission is important, since it locates the problem of discipline in a set of coercive practices which involve not only teachers, but also children and researchers.

Chapter seven begins by introducing the idea of techniques of the self which Foucault develops in his later work. My discussion emphasises that Foucault presents a history designed to inspire ethical reflection, rather than a fully worked-out ethics. Returning to my field notes, I then examine how various techniques of self are used in the classroom as a style of subjectformation somewhat different from the disciplinary techniques discussed earlier. I discuss the central role of self-knowledge in producing educable subjects, and compare and contrast practices of self-knowledge with those driven by an agenda of care.

Finally, chapter eight presents a synthesis of my analysis followed by a brief conclusion. Drawing together the empirical work presented in the thesis, I undermine the distinction between techniques of discipline and techniques of self, drawing attention to the ways in which the former culminate in and co-opt the latter. I then situate my findings in relation to the literature discussed in chapter two. In conclusion, I review my findings briefly, advancing some tentative answers to the questions posed in chapter one.