Foucault, Neoliberalism, and Beyond

Stephen W. Sawyer is Professor of History at the American University of ParisDaniel Steinmetz-Jenkins is a Lecturer at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

This collection of nine essays examines Michel Foucault’s “neoliberalism” as expressed in his late 1970s Collège de France Birth of Biopolitics lectures. The contributing scholars offer various interpretations regarding Foucault’s critical consideration of neoliberalism, and their essays illustrate Foucault’s analytical, thought-provoking ambiguity. Claudia Castiglione reminds readers that Foucault “never hid his discomfort toward conventional answers and never ceased to search for alternative ones." Michael Behrent writes, “If Foucault was a liberal, it was despite himself: his liberalism was not one of self-identification or political affiliation; it was, rather, an élan implicit in his concepts and arguments." Daniel Zamora views Foucault’s neoliberal study as a means to “rethink resistance” and be “less governed." “Pushing beyond” (editors’ italics) whether Foucault was a neoliberal, the volume presents “two key ambitions: to provide a more nuanced perspective on this key movement in the history of ideas and in so doing, uncover new interpretations, analyses, or applications of Foucault’s work." The contributors impressively pursue those ambitions. Readers well-versed in Foucault’s evolving thought will find the collection particularly accessible and valuable. This book deserves inclusion in university libraries.Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Introduction: Stephen Sawyer and Daniel Steinmetz-JenkinsChapter 1: Michael C. Behrent, Neoliberalism: The Highest Stage of Anti-Humanism?Chapter 2: Serge Audier, Is Foucault a Good Guide for Understanding, Critiquing and Combatting Neoliberalism? Chapter 3: Daniel Zamora, Finding a “Left Governmentality”: Foucault’s Last DecadeChapter 4: Aner Barzilay, Rereading the Birth of Biopolitics in Light of Foucault’s Early Reading of MarxChapter 5: Dotan Leshem, Foucault, Genealogy, Critique Chapter 6: Duncan Kelly, Michel Foucault on Phobie d’État and Neoliberalism Chapter 7: Claudia Castiglioni, Foucault, Neoliberalism, and the Iranian RevolutionChapter 8: Luca Paltrinieri, Neoliberal Selves: Human Capital Between Bourdieu and FoucaultChapter 9: Judith Revel, Not Fostering Life, and Leaving to DieIndex