Foucault and education: the formation of certain (and other possible) subjects, subjectivations and subjectivations

Abstract

From educational thought, in the relationship between philosophy and education, one of the central themes is the subject and its subjectivation. From the contributions of the philosopher Michel Foucault’s thought and conceptual categories, nineteenth century institutions such as the school, turn out to be key and determinant in the formation of certain types of subjects, configured by the predominant power-knowledge relations in the educational institution. In this context and under a Foucauldian conceptual mapping methodology, this article addresses and discusses the role of education as an institution that deploys certain pedagogical devices, in view of the formation-production of certain subjects, subjectivations and subjections. Among the main findings we can mention that, although the educational institution is the producer of a certain type of subjectivation related to the formation of the so-called “human capital” or managerialism, it is also possible to think and generate other modes of subjectivation for the formation of analytical-critical and creative subjects, capable of developing from and with freedom between the local and the global; between individual responsibility and collective processes. We believe that our results may be useful to think and put into practice an educational thought and praxis that includes the differences and options from the subjects themselves, which, in a Foucauldian sense, aims at educating students for the “care of the self” and “care of the other”, or resistance of the subject to be turned into someone who does not project or desire from himself/herself.