On the Problematic Aspects of “Method” in Post-Foucauldian Social Studies—Between the Transcription and Fugue Strategy

Abstract

The basic purpose of the text is a reflexion on the problems with methodological directives that stem from the works of Foucault. Simultaneously, this voice imprints itself into the general understanding of styles of reception of an idea and Foucauldian concepts of social studies. By the use of the term “method” the author refers both to the varieties of methodological premises present in the literature concerned with methodological social studies and to the strategies of reading they represent. The analysis of the reception of “Foucault’s methodology” leads us to a conclusion that it posits itself between two opposite poles. The first pole attempts to provide precise methodological guidelines allowing a faithful reconstruction of Foucauldian ways, while applying them to a different sphere of inquest (the transcription strategy). Located on the other pole are methodological varieties of different type—transformations, redefinitions of Foucauldian categories, and syntheses of various approaches (the fugue strategy).