May 24, 2013
Focault believed that power and knowledge are closely interrelated, and that they are both defined by one another. This is clearly evident when it comes to the discussion of discourses about the family, as Ribbs McCarthy and Edwards (2011) state that it becomes more dominant in society if the government and/or other institutions become involved or associate themselves with it.
Ribbs McCarthy and Edwards (2011) believe that discourse places emphasis on how the family is not natural and that it is "socially produced", which can also be linked to social constructionism's idea that childhood is constantly being changed and new norms being accepted into society and will eventually be thought of as "traditional".