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The elusive subjects of neoliberalism: beyond the analytics of governmentality

The elusive subjects of neoliberalism: beyond the analytics of governmentality
The elusive subjects of neoliberalism: beyond the analytics of governmentality
This paper assesses the degree to which conceptualizations of neo-liberal governance and advanced liberal governmentality can throw light on contemporary transformations in the practices and politics of consumption. It detours through theories of governmentality, stories about consumption and shopping, and different variations on what we can learn from Foucault. We explore the degree to which aspects of Foucault's discussions of government and ethics can be put to work methodologically without necessarily buying into fully systematized theories of governmentality that have been built around them. The idea that organizations and networks might share rationalities through which they problematize and seek to intervene in specified areas of social life seems worth pursuing. So too does the notion of various modes of ethical problematization through which people come to take their own activities as requiring moral reflection. In neither case, however, can the analytics of governmentality provide a coherent theoretical account of how political processes of rule and administration work, or indeed of how they connect up with cultural processes of self-formation and subjectivity.
governmentality, consumption, neo-liberalism, subjectivity, ethical, problematization
0950-2386
624-653
Barnett, Clive
b1f2f557-2f7b-4c99-8aec-0b37a57db0c8
Clarke, Nick
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Cloke, Paul
317a4a99-ccc5-4506-bf03-d111d95919fc
Malpass, Alice
bd406aae-8579-46d0-b6c4-b9efb6ddc678
Barnett, Clive
b1f2f557-2f7b-4c99-8aec-0b37a57db0c8
Clarke, Nick
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Cloke, Paul
317a4a99-ccc5-4506-bf03-d111d95919fc
Malpass, Alice
bd406aae-8579-46d0-b6c4-b9efb6ddc678

Barnett, Clive, Clarke, Nick, Cloke, Paul and Malpass, Alice (2008) The elusive subjects of neoliberalism: beyond the analytics of governmentality. [in special issue: Cultural Studies and Anti-Consumerism: a Critical Encounter] Cultural Studies, 22 (5), 624-653. (doi:10.1080/09502380802245902).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper assesses the degree to which conceptualizations of neo-liberal governance and advanced liberal governmentality can throw light on contemporary transformations in the practices and politics of consumption. It detours through theories of governmentality, stories about consumption and shopping, and different variations on what we can learn from Foucault. We explore the degree to which aspects of Foucault's discussions of government and ethics can be put to work methodologically without necessarily buying into fully systematized theories of governmentality that have been built around them. The idea that organizations and networks might share rationalities through which they problematize and seek to intervene in specified areas of social life seems worth pursuing. So too does the notion of various modes of ethical problematization through which people come to take their own activities as requiring moral reflection. In neither case, however, can the analytics of governmentality provide a coherent theoretical account of how political processes of rule and administration work, or indeed of how they connect up with cultural processes of self-formation and subjectivity.

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Published date: 15 September 2008
Keywords: governmentality, consumption, neo-liberalism, subjectivity, ethical, problematization
Organisations: Geography

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 64189
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/64189
ISSN: 0950-2386
PURE UUID: 028dd8dc-d6e0-4ed3-87c2-7895fc955587
ORCID for Nick Clarke: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-9849

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Date deposited: 05 Dec 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:46

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Contributors

Author: Clive Barnett
Author: Nick Clarke ORCID iD
Author: Paul Cloke
Author: Alice Malpass

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