Foucault, Governmentality, and Critique

Michel Foucault is one of the most cited authors in social science. This book discusses one of his most influential concepts: governmentality. Reconstructing its emergence in Foucault's analytics of power, the book explores the theoretical strengths the concept of governmentality offers for political analysis and critique. It highlights the intimate link between neoliberal rationalities and the problem of biopolitics including issues around genetic and reproductive technologies. This book is a useful introduction to Foucault's work on power and governmentality suitable for experts and students alike

Introduction The Subject and Power, Thomas Lemke; Chapter 1 An Analytics of Government, Thomas Lemke; Chapter 2 A Genealogy of the Modern State, Thomas Lemke; Chapter 3 Liberalism,Critique and Experience, Thomas Lemke; Chapter 5 From Foucault's Hypothesis to Studies of Governmentality, Thomas Lemke;

Thomas Lemke is Heisenberg Professor of Sociology with a focus on biotechnologies, nature, and society at Goethe University–Frankfurt/Main in Germany. His research interests include social and political theory, biopolitics, and social studies of genetic and reproductive technologies. His recent publications include Der medizinische Blick in die Zukunft: Gesellschaftliche Implikationen prädiktiver Gentests (co-authored with Regine Kollek) (Campus 2008); Governmentality: Current Issues and Future Challenges (co-edited with Ulrich Bröckling and Susanne Krasmann) (Routledge 2010); biopolitics: An Advanced Introduction (New York University Press 2011). You can email him at lemke@em.uni-frankfurt.de.