American Women: A Story of Social Change

by June Sochen • 1988

The essays in this collection assess the impact of Michel Foucault's work on the conditions of disciplinary knowledge in humanistic studies and speculate on the directions we might take from his work. They cover a wide range of fundamental concerns; from philosophy of knowledge in both theoreticl and applied forms, to philology, history, psychoanalysis, feminism and politics. Whether the contributors would be counted as being for or against Foucault, all of them show that their understanding has been altered by the challenges his work has posed. In some cases Foucault's thought is severly criticized as an obstacle to effective understanding or action; in others, his thought offers a resource through which received opinion can be displayed.