(De)Constructing the neoliberal subject with Foucault

Authors

  • Marta Nunes da Costa UFMS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2017.2.27378

Keywords:

Foucault, freedom, neoliberalism, resistance, subjectivity.

Abstract

What is the neoliberal subject? Who is s/he? How does s/he become what it is or appears to be? What could it be the transformation of this subject into another? The goal of this article is to answer these questions having Foucault as principal interlocutor. This article has three sections. In the first section, I reconstruct the Foucauldian conceptual horizon in order to characterize the conditions where subjectivity becomes a question. In the second section, I aim at identifying the
elements that allows us to characterize today’s neoliberal subject: a subject that assimilates and incorporates in his own construction the values and ideologies of the market. Finally, I identify the Foucauldian elements that should be kept in order to transform the neoliberal subject into an-Other, trying to imagine what kind of subjectivity can one build today.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Marta Nunes da Costa, UFMS

Doutorada em Ciência Política pela New School for Social Research, NY 

Professora Adjunta de Filosofia da UFMS

áreas de concentração: ética, filosofia política, teorias democráticas, feminismo. 

References

BALL, S. J. “Subjectivity as a site of struggle: refusing neoliberalism?” British Journal of Sociology of Education, London/New York: Routledge, 2015. 10.1080/01425692.2015.1044072 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1044072

BUTLER, J. Giving an Account of Oneself. New York: Fordham University Press, 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5422/fso/9780823225033.001.0001

COSTA, M. N. Redefining Individuality. Vila Nova Famalicão: Húmus Ed., 2011.

COTOI, C. “Neoliberalism: a Foucauldian Perspective”. International Review of Social Research, 1, 2 (June 2011), p. 109-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/irsr-2011-0014

DERRIDA, J. Résistances de la psychanalyse. Paris: Éditions Galilée, 1996.

FOUCAULT, M. “The Subject and Power”. Critical Inquiry, 8, 4 (1982), p. 777-795. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/448181

______. “O sujeito e o poder”. In: RABINOW, P.; DREYFUS, H. Foucault: uma trajetória filosófica. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 1995. p. 231-249.

______. “Why Study Power: The Question of the Subject”. In: DREYFUS, H.; RABINOW, P. (Ed.). Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.

______. “What is Enlightenment?” In: RABINOW, P. (Ed.). The Foucault Reader. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.

______. “Politics and The Study of Discourse”. In: GORDON, C. et al. (Ed.). The Foucault Effect – Studies in Governmentality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991a. p. 53-72.

______. “Governmentality”. In: GORDON, C. et al. (Eds.). The Foucault Effect – Studies in Governmentality, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991b. p. 87-104.

______. “What is Critique?” In: LOTRINGER, S.; HOCHROTH, L. (Eds.). The Politics of Truth. New York: Semiotext(e), 1997.

______. Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France 1978-79. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

______. O governo de si e dos outros. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2013.

HARVEY, D. A brief history of neoliberalism. Nova York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

HOFMEYR, B. ‘The Culture and Subjectivity of neo-liberal governmentality’. Phronimon, 12, 2 (2011), p. 20-42.

McHOUL, A.; GRACE, W. A Foucault Primer – Discourse, power and the subject, London/New York: Routledge, 1993.

McGUIGAN, J. ‘The Neoliberal Self’. Culture Unbound – Journal of Current Cultural Research, 6 (2014), p. 223-240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146223

SAFATLE, V.P. 2015. ‘O trabalho do impróprio e os afetos da flexibilização’ em Veritas, Porto Alegre, 60 (jan-abr 2015), p. 12-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2015.1.20196

TAYLOR, D., 2013. ‘Resisting the Subject: A Feminist-Foucauldian Approach to Countering Sexual Violence’. Foucault Studies, 16 (set. 2013), p. 88-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i16.4119

Published

2017-10-26

How to Cite

da Costa, M. N. (2017). (De)Constructing the neoliberal subject with Foucault. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 62(2), 354–376. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2017.2.27378