TY - JOUR

T1 - Three concepts of power

T2 - Foucault, Bourdieu, and Habermas

AU - Christensen, Gerd

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The article is a discussion of the concept of power in three different social theories that are often applied to educational research: the theories of Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel Foucault. In everyday life, the concept of power is used as if it only had a single connotation: power as possessed by someone (“the powerful”) while exercised over someone else (“the powerless”). Inthis case, power is considered as a (potentially) repressive force and ascribed to a person, a culture, a state, or a society. Though, power can be comprehended otherwise: as non-possessed and productive. In the paper, the three conceptions of power are presented and discussed in relation to each other and to specific philosophical themes like dualism, reductionism, determinism and autonomy, truth, normativity, and relativism. Finally, the paper shows that the applied powerconcept has significant consequences for the way the educational researcher analyzes conflicts, and therefore also for our understanding of the world in which we live.

AB - The article is a discussion of the concept of power in three different social theories that are often applied to educational research: the theories of Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel Foucault. In everyday life, the concept of power is used as if it only had a single connotation: power as possessed by someone (“the powerful”) while exercised over someone else (“the powerless”). Inthis case, power is considered as a (potentially) repressive force and ascribed to a person, a culture, a state, or a society. Though, power can be comprehended otherwise: as non-possessed and productive. In the paper, the three conceptions of power are presented and discussed in relation to each other and to specific philosophical themes like dualism, reductionism, determinism and autonomy, truth, normativity, and relativism. Finally, the paper shows that the applied powerconcept has significant consequences for the way the educational researcher analyzes conflicts, and therefore also for our understanding of the world in which we live.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Determinism, dualism, normativity, power relations, relativism, truth

KW - Determinism

KW - dualism

KW - Normativity

KW - Power relations

KW - relativism

KW - Truth

U2 - 10.1177/17577438231187129

DO - 10.1177/17577438231187129

M3 - Journal article

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - Power and Education

JF - Power and Education

SN - 1757-7438

ER -