Foucault’s Power/Knowledge and Institutionalization

As discussed earlier, the many reviews of institutional theory work towards legitimizing certain perspectives over others. I argued this to be one of the reasons that we see regular calls for incorporating alternative perspectives in studying institutionalization. Though critique (both self and beyond) have found their place within institutional theory as it moves towards maturity to produce an advanced analysis of institutionalization, there are, despite these claims to advanced analysis, calls for fair treatment of power (see e.g. Clegg, 2010). This recent call by Clegg echoed the concerns that institutional theorists have been advocating for a long time (Cooper et al., 2008; DiMaggio, 1988; Friedland & Alford, 1991).

Reviewers overwhelmingly target reliance on the agency and juridical notion of power as one of the culprit constructs that has been used in institutional theory.

Following Cooper et al. (2008) I advocate incorporating Foucault’s discourse analysis in studying institutionalization and propose a focus upon the subject position embedded in discursive practices and technologies rather than seeing individuals as holders of objective interests. The main difference between the prevalent themes in institutional theories, and a Foucauldian inspired institutionalization, is the latter’s conceptualization of power and power relations. As discussed in Chapter Three, Foucauldian studies see power as not centred in agency but as a network that works not necessarily top-down and restrictive but as productive forces that “produce things, induce pleasure and forms of knowledge (Hall, 2001, p. 77). Foucault advocates that closer attention be paid towards processes that give rise to truth. Truth here can be translated as the institutionalized and legitimized way of doing things in an institution.

For analysing the process of truth creation, he introduces the concept of power/knowledge. As discussed earlier in Chapter Three, the notion of power/knowledge implies that these two are interdependent and actualize each other. For him, knowledge works as not only a system of representation but also as the producer of the world. Through power/knowledge people survey themselves and others for conduct based on truth. Thus when analysing the relationships between action and knowledge, Foucault specifically cautions against determining truth. Rather he wants to focus on what possibilities that truth give people in constructing their social world. For him, power/knowledge creates self- disciplined subjects, the subjects who not only act under the power but also produce further avenues for the exercise of power and find pleasure in acting under the influence of it. Thus, in the context of the story described in Chapter One, when I enter the classroom as a lecturer I act as a normalized and disciplined subject working under the influence of the truth of 66

finance, where pleasure is obtained through disseminating the knowledge to the student. Upon exiting the classroom the truth of Islam creates my other subject position, where pleasure originates from following the true religion.

As discussed in Chapter Three, Foucault conceptualizes that “normalization” works through continuous practices of control and he refuses to recognize the existence of universal truth. He considers these as taken-for-granted historical creations that are aiming to subjugate. Thus my two positions of finance lecturer and Muslim, within their respective institutions, are not to be viewed as independent constructions but an outcome of institutionalization processes that guide the subject positions of finance lecturer and Muslim. Analytically this also implies that when looking at the process of institutionalization the taken-for-granted constructs such as agency, competing logics and actors are problematized. When one realizes that there is no external position but the one which is historically situated, then the analysis will bring everything into question that will include all the existing definitions, taken-for-granted relationships and ways of perceiving.

This conceptualization prompts a series of questions about the process of subjectification or the institutionalized/normalized ways of doing things within an institution. While the process of my identity creation as a Muslim is beyond the scope of this thesis, I will through this study raise a series of questions about the institutionalization of academic finance. The questions which I pose about the institution of academic finance and offer answer to in this thesis are:

1. What factors contributed towards its origin and how were its boundaries worked out? (studied in Chapter Five)

2. Where does the discourse of finance direct our attention to and avert our attention from? (studied in Chapter Six)

3. In what ways does the discourse of finance shape practices of self and self- discipline? (studied in Chapter Seven)

Researchers have provided diverse suggestions as to how to find answers to these questions from a variety of epistemological and ontological concerns (see for example Clegg, Kornberger, & Rhodes, 2005; Davis & Anderson, 2008; Du Gay, Salaman, & Rees, 1996; Hambrick & Chen, 2008; Hoffman, 1999; Lawrence, 2004; Lounsbury & Crumley, 2007; P. Miller & Napier, 1993; Skålén, Fellesson, & Fougère, 2006; Skalen et al., 2008; Small, 1999; Townley, 1993; Whitley, 1986b).31

One of the proposed ways to study these questions is through discourse and discourse analysis. Phillips (in Phillips et al., 2004; Westwood & Clegg, 2003 Chapter 7(b)) argue that discourse analysis and institutional theory share similar concerns yet their full potential to collaborate have yet to tapped. He argues that “while the roots of new institutionalism lie in the social constructionism of Berger and Luckmann, in its current form it provides little explanation of the processes of social construction that underlie institutions, no explanation of the role of the self-interested action, and no theory of power” (Westwood & Clegg, 2003, p. 220). For him, the deficiency can be covered through inclusion of discourse analysis in studies of institution and institutionalization.

Discourse and discourse analysis however is a contested domain and has been applied and understood in a variety of ways (Alvesson & Karreman, 2000; Phillips et al., 2004; Prichard, 2006; Westwood & Clegg, 2003). Prichard (2006) identifies eight “entry points” of discourse analysis as they are applied in organizational studies. Discourse studies are usually associated with linguistic analysis, however Foucauldian discourse analysis (derived from his

31 _{A detailed discussion of these is beyond the scope of this thesis and as such is avoided.}

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works Foucault, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 2002, 1980) sees discourse as not only related to language but practice as well. Du Gay, Salaman and Rees (1996)define discourse as:

“… the term (that) refers both to the production of knowledge through language and representation and the way that knowledge is institutionalized, shaping social practices and cultural technologies and setting new practices and technologies into play” (Du Gay et al., 1996, p. 266). 32

In other words, discourse narrates and studies the process of knowledge production and the process through which that knowledge is put into practice. Thus discourse is considered as the general system that forms and articulates ideas through which objects and subjects get created (Fairhurst & Putnam, 2004).

Hall (2001) defines a Foucauldian inspired discourse as “a group of statements which provide a language for talking about – a way of representing the knowledge about – a particular topic at a particular moment” (Hall, 2001, p. 72). In other words, for Foucault, discourse is not just limited to text but is embedded in everyday practices through the language it provides to speak about objects and the knowledge it circulates through our interactions at a particular moment (Du Gay et al., 1996; Hall, 2001). For Foucault, taking an example from this thesis, discourse will not only be the text of Efficient Market Hypothesis (studied in Chapter Six), but how that text translates into providing the theoretical and physical infrastructure of the markets. It will involve the study of the mechanisms through which the practice of investing is materialized in terms of the language to speak about

32 _{This perspective has been identified as “knowledge and practice” and the rest of the seven he titles [in order}

of appearance] as: the Structurationist approach; the Text and discursive process; language games and discourse communities; narrative(s); language use, communication, talk, rhetoric and texts (literary analysis); public debate (general discourse); rhetorical form of knowledge (Prichard, 2006 Table 2).

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investment and securities as well as the in terms of architecture of the markets and brokerage firms, stock tickers, and the assumptions associated with the dealings and price fluctuations.

Discourse, for Foucault, thus serves as the reference point for a general system that forms and articulates ideas and constitutes both objects and subjects, the relation between which transpire into institutionalized practices (Fairhurst & Putnam, 2004). In other words, discourse creates and forms institutions through its mechanisms of identification and subjectification. Discourse can, therefore, be classified as the governing phenomena that enables and facilitates the formation of a topic and defines its boundaries in terms of what is “sayable and seeable” and creates uneven possibilities for competing claims to be true (Hall, 2001; Skalen et al., 2008; Townley, 1993).

The term discourse, as argued earlier, is however not new to institutional theory and there have been earlier attempts to introduce it into the study of institutionalization. One such earlier attempt has been from Phillips, Lawrence and Hardy (2004). They highlighted the importance of text in the process of institutionalization and argue that “institutionalization does not occur through the simple imitation of an action by an immediate observer but, rather, through the creation of supporting texts” (Phillips et al., 2004, p. 639). For them, the action taken by individuals via a meaning making process helps create new or modifies existing discourse by “affect(ing) the discursive realm through the production of texts” (Phillips et al., 2004, p. 240). Text which may exist in the form of formal and/or informal conversations, books, magazine articles or manuals interact with institutional practices via individual actors meaning making to pave the way for change, and thus a new type of action may witness institutionalization replacing an existing action.

The conception of discourse and discursive institutionalization proposed by Philips et al. (2004), however, differs from Foucauldian discourse analysis. A more direct Foucauldian discourse analysis was been adopted by Peci, Vieira and Milano (2009). Peci, et al. (2009) 70

studies the origin of the field of genetics in the USA. They argued that there exist a number of gaps that are prevalent in the currently accepted analysis of institutionalization. According to them, the current analysis lacks theorization of actions, considers institutions as a given, lacks a complete theorization to study change, organizations are considered a-political and fixed constructs, there is a focus on arbitrary constructs such as “organizational field” or “sectors” and an emphasis on arbitrary differentiation between organization and field, and lastly a focus on the utility of theories towards predictability (Peci et al., 2009, pp. 86-88). They argued for incorporating a Foucauldian discourse analysis and articulated the concept of “discursive fields”. A discursive field, if we are to accept the definition of “institutional field” (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) or “societal sector” (Scott & Meyer, 1991) as taken-for-granted, will be a level above the field or sector level, that includes the constructs identified by Friedland and Alford (1991). Peci, et al. (2009) diagrammatically represents the concept of a “discursive field” as below:

Source: adopted from Peci Vieira & Milano (2009 p 92)

Figure 4.1: The Constitution of a Discursive Field

A discursive field, therefore, consists of not only the “institutional field” or “societal sector”, but also includes religion, culture, market, economy, technology, legal etc. (Friedland & Alford, 1991; Peci et al., 2009). This implies that while studying the process of the institutionalization of a phenomenon, researchers should not only concentrate on the “institutional field” or “societal sector” but also include the system of institutions that operate in “collaboration and conflict” with each other (Friedland & Alford, 1991). Thus to understand the institutionalization of academic finance, I will not only be looking at what the university and departments within universities were thinking and how their policies were enacted and conceived by the actors inside it, but will also be including the system of institutions operating within the USA. In other words, unlike the accepted definition of field or sector, Foucauldian institutionalization does not necessarily link the related industries as the originator of change, but the whole of society, as is the case with the institutional logic perspective (Friedland & Alford, 1991). Peci, et al. (2009) applying the same methodological concerns studied the field of genetics and argued that genetics as a field is the product of “displacement, transformations and circularity of concepts and practices” (Peci et al., 2009, p. 103) between discourses originating from “eugenics, racial, gender, and social discourses” (Peci et al., 2009, p. 85).

The table below summarizes and tentatively differentiates the institutionalized

approaches to study institutionalization through institutional work, institutional logic and power/knowledge perspective.

Table 4.1: Differentiating Institutional Work, Intuitional Logic and Foucauldian Institutionalization

Origin of Change Change Actualizes Through

Level of Analysis

Institutional

Work Purposive Actions

Independent actor through utilizing many techniques

outlined in Table 2.1

Field level and institutional level

Institutional Logic Constructed Actions

Competing logics, location and historical

events

Institutional field / institutional society Power/Knowledge Subject Position Changes in inter-

institutional order Discursive field

After describing some of the fundamental concepts of the methodology that I intend to adopt to understand How, I will in the following section describe the method in detail. This is starting with an explanation of how can we conceptualize subject position and take an account of its characteristics, followed by a description of how these terms have been studied previously, and lastly as a way to collect data for studying institutionalization.