ABSTRACT
In the above quote a parent describes her experience of having a paediatrician
GLDJQRVHKHU¿YH\HDUROGVRQ%UDGZLWK$'+')URPWKDWGLDJQRVLVWKH\RXQJ FKLOGH[SHULHQFHGEHLQJµRI¿FLDOO\¶NQRZQDVGLVRUGHUO\,WVHHPVWKDWWREHNQRZQ as disorderly is a clear-cut process: you get diagnosed. But to accept this is to miss
the complexities of the diagnostic practices, and risks failing to question just why
VXFKDGLDJQRVLVFDQGH¿QHDFKLOGDVGLVRUGHUO\7KHFUXFLDOTXHVWLRQWRDVNLV how is it that a young person can be made a disorderly subject and, further, how
is it that the person understands him-or herself as disorderly? These questions
require a consideration of power – which is not simply to pose the question ‘Who
has the power to diagnose?’ but rather to ask what relations of power enable the
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In studying these power relations, I in no way construct a theory of power.
