On Willing Selves Neoliberal Politics and the Challenge of Neuroscience

by Maasen, Sabine

• ISBN13: 9780230013438
• ISBN10: 0230013430
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Postmodern theories heralded the 'death of the subject', and thereby deeply contested our intuition that we are free and willing selves. In recent times, the (free) will has come under attack yet again. Findings from the neuro- and cognitive sciences claim the concept of will to be scientifically untenable, specifying that it is our brain rather than our 'self' which decides what we want to do. In spite of these challenges, however, the willing self has come to take centre stage in our society: juridical and moral practices ascribing guilt, or the organization of everyday life attributing responsibilities, for instance, can hardly be understood without taking recourse to the willing subject.

Author Biography

SABINE MAASEN is Professor for Science Studies at the University of Basel. Her research interests include the dynamics of knowledge, social construction of volition and consciousness, neosocial governmentality, and new forms of knowledge production. A related publication is on Voluntary Action: On Brains, Minds, and Sociality (with Wolfgang Prinz & Gerhard Roth, 2003). BARBARA SUTTER is Research Assistant at the University of Basel. Her training is in sociology, political science, and philosophy and her research work focuses on transformations of the social by politics of participation and responsibilization.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Notes on Contributors	p. vii
Introduction: Reviving a Sociology of Willing Selves	p. 1
Self - Past and Present	p. 21
Self-Help: The Making of Neosocial Selves in Neoliberal Society	p. 25
Technologies of the Will and Their Christian Roots	p. 53
Self and (Socio-)Scientific Knowledge	p. 77
Governing the Will in a Neurochemical Age	p. 81
The Person as an Effect of Communication	p. 100
Self and Politics	p. 121
Creating Citizen-Consumers? Public Service Reform and (Un)Willing Selves	p. 125
Neopolitics: Voluntary Action in the New Regime	p. 146
'Craving' Research: Smart Drugs and the Elusiveness of Desire	p. 167
Self and Morality	p. 189
From Voluntary to Relational Action: Responsibility in Question	p. 193
The Role of the Self-Model for Self-Determination	p. 209
Index	p. 227
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