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The Dispositif of Age: Dispositif, the Concept of Youth, and Temporalization

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Regulating Social Life

Part of the book series: Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse ((PSDS))

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Abstract

This chapter presents the concept of the dispositif of age treated as a model of the analysis of the power of youth discourse and, in a broader perspective, mechanisms for the regulation of social life. The adopted theoretical assumptions come from two main sources, i.e. from Foucault’s categories of the dispositif and discourse, and Reinhart Koselleck’s concept of basic notions and temporalization. Additional arguments are provided by the findings of childhood and youth historians, and researchers from the circle of youth critical studies. It is against this background that the concept of youth is shown as the basic concept, the notion of movement and expectation. The proposed theoretical and analytical model of the dispositif of age takes into account the concept of the dispositif extended to include the assumptions of historical semantics, and comprises two layers: (1) conceptually discursive, focused on formations of knowledge, and (2) pragmatic-strategic, including formations of power and juridical and disciplinary mechanisms, as well as the mechanism of conducting.

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Ostrowicka, H. (2019). The Dispositif of Age: Dispositif, the Concept of Youth, and Temporalization. In: Regulating Social Life. Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16888-9_2

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