Contrôle, identité, parrhèsia : une approche foucaltienne du Web 2.0

The paper applies to the debate on web 2.0 relations three of Foucault’s concepts: the relationship between power and social control, the practice of talking about oneself, the link between right of speech and truth in democratic contexts. The aim of the essay is to prove that the Foucault’s questions have a strong applicability. Welcoming Foucault’s method and questions means re-defining certain issues: the debate between freedom and power over the web may be transformed into a survey on the specific and inevitable forms of web power over society. The approach to an autobiographical outburst becomes translated into a question regarding the ways and conditions of talking about oneself in order that social pressure may wield it. The controversy over web democracy can be re-modulated as an interrogation on the condition of truth and the forms of knowledge in representative democracies.