Can We Criticize Foucault? On Foucault's late life neoliberalism.
Foucault the neoliberal? That would explain a lot, in so far as Foucault had an outsized impact on late 20th century left wing thought. One of the greatest sources of outrage for me has been the way the nominal left has embraced neoliberalism so enthusiastically that it's no longer able to distinguish free-market fanatics in its midst.
Foucaults barely masked enthusiasm for Stolérus proposal was part of a larger movement that went along with the decline of the egalitarian philosophy of social security in favor of a very free-market-oriented fight against poverty. In other words, and as surprising as it may seem, the fight against poverty, far from limiting the effects of neoliberal policies, has in reality militated for its political hegemony.
So its not surprising to see the worlds largest fortunes, like those of Bill Gates or George Soros, engaging in this fight against poverty even while supporting, without any apparent contradiction, the liberalization of public services, the destruction of all these mechanisms of wealth redistribution, and the virtues of neoliberalism.
Combatting poverty thus permits the inclusion of social questions on the political agenda without having to fight against inequality and the structural mechanisms that produce it. So this evolution has been part and parcel of neoliberalism, and the objective of my text is to show that Foucault had his share of responsibility in this development.
Full interview:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/12/foucault-interview