Ambiguous citizenship: ‘Postmodern’ versus ‘modern’ welfare at the margins

Paradoxes of Welfare: Universality, Truth, and Power in Modern Welfare Provision

“…A bit of analytical complexity could be added to this understanding by drawing briefly (and loosely) upon some basic ideas concerning paradoxes in Niklas Luhmann. This is not the place to debate the compatibilities and incompatibilities between Foucault and Luhmann's systems theory at the level of epistemology (see for instance, Borch, 2005), nor to contrast Luhmann's sympathetic attitude to the modern, rational bureaucracy with postmodern values of fluidity, fragmentation and respect for unique individuality (Villadsen, 2011a;DuGay, 2000). I merely wish to add to my analytical approach a few elementary points from Luhmann which seem immediately reconcilable with Foucault's approach to government and power (Pottage, 1998).…”