Governmentality and Power Dynamics in Society

Governmentality refers to the ensemble of practices, rationalities and techniques through which governing authorities shape the conduct of individuals and populations. Originating from analyses of modern statecraft, the concept shifts attention from overt sovereign rule to the subtle arts of management and regulation that permeate social institutions. Power dynamics under this lens are not confined to coercion or top-down directives but include the ways in which subjects internalise norms, monitor themselves and engage in self-governance. Contemporary research explores how these processes operate across diverse arenas such as health systems, urban planning, environmental policy and financial governance. This body of work demonstrates that rationalities of risk, security and efficiency, once confined to bureaucratic domains, now inform everyday social relations and individual subjectivities. The perspective also highlights the multiplicity of power—its productive as well as repressive dimensions—and the constant negotiation between governing actors and governed populations. By tracing the genealogies of governmental rationalities and illustrating their material enactments, scholars illuminate both the shaping of collective life and the possibilities for resistance within networks of power.

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Governmentality and Power Dynamics in Society publication trend

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Technical terms

Governmentality: A Foucauldian concept denoting the ensemble of institutions, procedures and knowledge forms that govern the conduct of individuals and populations through rationalities of rule.

Biopolitics: The strategic management and regulation of life processes within populations, focusing on health, reproduction and the optimisation of human capacities.

Dispositive of security: A network of practices, discourses and material mechanisms aimed at identifying, assessing and mitigating risks to populations, thereby shaping policies and individual behaviours.

References

1. When Aging and Climate Change Are Brought Together: Fossil Fuel Divestment and a Changing Dispositive of Security. Sustainability (2023).
2. Governing healthcare: the uses and limits of governmentality in the National Health Service in England. Anthropology and Medicine (2023).
3. Policing the In/Exclusion of Social Marginality: The Preventive Regulation of Public Space in Urban Switzerland. Social Inclusion (2023).