Governing through the family: A Foucaultian approach to New Labour's anti-social behaviour policy, 1998--2004

This dissertation examines the development of Michel Foucault's work by governmentality writers and focuses upon how governmentality enables a fresh response to criticisms of Foucaultian political theory. The project follows governmentality in approaching Foucault's work through a study of a current political issue and presents New Labour's youth justice, public order, and anti-social behaviour policies as an example of the government through family practices. The study focuses on the role expertise has played in these policies and argues that, to date, governmentality has not fully acknowledged how expert knowledges modify power through practices of freedom.; The study charts the development of New Labour's project of "joined up government" and considers the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act as a pivotal piece of legislation. A Foucaultian perspective notes the spatial dimension of these policies and the sense in which the family is governed according to a twofold strategy. Family practices appear simultaneously as a cause of disorderly conduct, allowing for its containment within the private household, and as a foundation for community via the extension of family civility. Viewing these policies in relation to new professional partnerships demonstrates how the social work and police professions acted as a crucible from which changes in family governance were launched. Recent responses from within the social work and police professions illustrate dilemmas family practices pose for a Foucaultian, governmentality perspective, since in each case the modification of policy appears partial and one-sided. Where social workers have opposed the family's role in containing disorder, they have drawn upon the extension of family civility in redefining their own professional identity. Conversely, where police officers have challenged the extension of family values, their redefinition of their own role re-emphasised the family as a private concern. The possibility that family practices might be accommodated within a Foucaultian view, committed to upholding both difference and reciprocity, is thus opened to reconsideration.