The deformation of decentered subjects: foucault and postmodern public administration
International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
ISSN: 1093-4537
Article publication date: 1 March 2009
Abstract
In Postmodern Public Administration: Toward Discourse (1995), Fox and Miller call for a postmodern discourse that can radicalize the reformist tendencies in public administration theory. This first edition neglects a powerful ally that can deepen this view of the decentered subject and illuminate some roadblocks to postmodern discourse theory, Michel Foucault. This paper challenges Fox and Millerʼs phenomenological notion of the self and offers Foucaultʼs characterization of the subject as an alternative that addresses how selves are created in and through discourse. This paper argues that the redemption of authentic discourse that Fox and Miller desire is not possible precisely because of the nature of the subject as already constituted. However, this does not mean that rich discourse ceases. Political ethics are still possible for deformed and decentered subjects.
Citation
Eagan, J.L. (2009), "The deformation of decentered subjects: foucault and postmodern public administration", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 141-162. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-12-01-2009-B007
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009 by Pracademics Press