Suchergebnisse

Der Beitrag wendet sich gegen die Idee, die Studies of Governmentality in ein festgelegtes Methodenset zu verwandeln, das, in Lehrbüchern zusammengefasst, Studierenden ausgehändigt werden kann. Das Leitmotiv des Autors lautet deshalb: "Studies of Governmentality" ja, "Governmentality Studies" nein. Der zweite Teil untersucht vor diesem Hintergrund Fragen der Gouvernementalität des moralischen Lebens im neoliberalen Zeitalter. Plädiert wird für eine moralisch-ethische Position, die - paradoxerweise - dazu führt, sich überhaupt gegen Ethiken als solche zu wenden. Die Geschichte der Technologien der Subjektivität - und hier insbesondere zur Gouvernementalität der Selbstachtung - wird als Beispiel analysiert. Etwas, das ganz privat zu sein scheint, das von unten kommt, das Empowerment ist und den Idealen und Praktiken der Freiheit dient, stellt sich als eine der Schlüsseltechnologien heraus, mit denen "einige der reichsten Menschen der Weltgesellschaft versuchen, ihre Lebensführung als vorbildlich zu verkaufen". Der springende Punkt ist die Idee der Freiheit. Die Stärke der Studies of governmentality liegt darin, das etwas, das zunächst der Freiheit dienlich scheint, kritisiert und problematisiert wird und auf diese Weise zweideutig, wenn nicht unmöglich gemacht wird. (ICA2)

AbstractIn recent years, a research focus on lifestyles has drawn considerable attention from many quarters. Within this area, the influence of several European and continental intellectual currents not widely embraced in American sociology can be detected, some traceable to the work of Michel Foucault. This article will provide a summary and overview of one area of lifestyle sociology that is touched by Foucault's broad influence on the social sciences, particularly his theories on governmentality. Governmentality studies consider the manner in which personal autonomy and self‐responsibility is conveyed to individuals as an ongoing life‐project. Through the lens of governmentality studies, everyday lifestyle choices of individuals are viewed as elements of larger projects of self‐development, implemented by therapeutic discourses of risk management, self‐realization, and enhanced personal well‐being. After a summary of debates within the sociology of lifestyle informed by governmentality theories, commentary and recommendations will be offered on new directions in governmentality research focusing on subjective well‐being or 'happiness' as a feature of contemporary lifestyles and as an object of sociological research. A brief survey of new research comprising the interdisciplinary field of 'happiness studies' suggests a new direction not only for lifestyle research, but for governmentality studies as well.

In traditional power analysis, `the international' is a characteristic of the states system — an anarchic realm, qualitatively different from the domestic. To traditional norms analysis, the international is increasingly a realm of shared value allocation, akin to other political realms. Given this bifurcation in the literature, privileging power incurs the cost of not being able to study systemic change of the international, whereas privileging norms incurs the cost of not being able to study power. We argue that extant conceptualisations of the international hail from Weber via Morgenthau, for whom international politics was an ideal type applied to the realm between states. Building on Mike Williams's work, we perform a new reading of these two scholars. We find that Morgenthau's identification of the political as an ideal-typical sphere has room for social theoretical insights as found in constructivist theory. Indeed, by his own Weberian lights, Morgenthau's specific ideal type of international politics is in need of updating. We try to rise to the challenge by drawing on Michel Foucault's work in order to forge an understanding of the international as governmentality. The result is a conceptualisation of the international as a socially embedded realm of governmentality. It is a structure (defined by relations of power) that generates different and changing practices of political rule (defined as governmental rationality) and agencies (for example, polities).