A TEST OF THE BIOPOLITICS HYPOTHESIS

Kenneth Westhues

Sexuality & Culture 3 (Volume Title: The Politics of Sexuality), pp. 69-100, edited by Barry M. Dank and Roberto Refinetti (Transaction Press, 1999).

ABSTRACT

Describing the experimental method, John Dewey insisted that knowledge, properly so-called, comes only from producing physical change as a result of action to test some hypothesis. Here, results of a "Deweyan experiment" are reported. An interventionist case study commenced in Dec 1994 at the U of Waterloo (Ontario) to test John Fekete's (1994) hypothesis that academic life in North America has lapsed into biopolitics. In addressing allegations of sexism in the sociology department, a biopolitical argument brought about a departmental review that standard academic arguments had failed to effect. Further, despite the author's efforts to the contrary, the review was conducted with a narrow, biopolitical focus. Two dismissal cases & other evidence from the same university are presented that corroborate the findings. 71 References.