A Qualitative Analysis On Discursive Power In School Discipline Discourses

This case study explores the impact of school discipline discourses and its power mechanism on teachers’ everyday life from the perspective of Foucauldian discourse analysis.The research questions are:(1)How do discipline discourses construct the disciplinary power mechanism in the school?(2)How is teachers’ subjectivity constituted in the disciplinary power mechanism?(3)What are the consequences of school discipline for teachers?The research site involved was Hangzhou X Middle School in Zhejiang Province.The study lasted 11 months.Data were collected from March 2018 to January 2019 and qualitatively analyzed using Foucault’s idea of “micro-physics of power” as the theoretical framework.The study had the following findings: First,the disciplinary power mechanism is constructed through the operation of the micro-physics of power which is composed of various discipline discourses.Second,teachers’ subjectivity is constituted by self-knowledge with which teachers are both subject to the regulations of the school and to their own conscience that knows how to be self-regulated.Third,constantly controlled by daily rules and procedural acts,teachers’ bodies and mind will tend to be docile and subjected.However,the strict discipline may also lead to covert resistance like colonization.This paper is an attempt to reveal the disciplinary power mechanism over teachers through a case study of Hangzhou X Middle School and help readers better understand the arduousness of middle school teachers’ work and realize the importance of changing the traditional teachers management mode.