Foucauldian perspectives

This chapter explores the contemporary application of Foucauldian perspectives to the pursuit of homeownership and housing ‘choice’. Foucault’s understanding of power suggests that the intent of the neoliberal mentality of rule is to produce governable subjects using mechanisms spread throughout the social body to regulate individual conduct by establishing norms. For example, individuals are divided into homeowners and renters, suggesting an irresponsibility and inferiority in the latter, in order to drive the pursuit of homeownership. This review of Foucauldian scholarship reveals how the recent move to ethnographic and quasi-ethnographic approaches to Foucault’s governmentalities has enabled the avoidance of being deterministic and static in understanding social transformations. These findings offer insight into how contemporary Foucauldian perspectives can expose nuances of governing practices around present-day housing trajectories such as alternative housing trends and housing ‘choices’ amidst the economic hardships and recovery from COVID-19.