Technologies of Control/Self

TECHNOLOGIES OF THE SELF

Nadesan (2008) states technologies of the self are where "privatized individuals act upon themselves in the course of daily life in manners consistent with expressions of liberal and neoliberal (and neoconservative) rationalities of government" (p. 11). These govern through freedom. The way technologies of power/self are carried out varies across system; each system has an ideological construction of what is appropriate (i.e., rehab versus punishment).

Gates (2011) states that according to Foucault, technologies of the self are techniques which "permit individuals to effect by their own means, or with the help of others, a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality" (p. 128). In this this, technologies allow for self-monitoring and self-control (p. 129). For instance, think about all the exercise tracking equipment. The identifiable citizen is the ideal citizen (p. 129).

Foucault (1988) explains that technologies of the self "‘permit individuals to effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality’ (18). " (as cited in Rettberg, 2014). (p. 84).

References:

Gates, K A. (2011). Our biometric future: Facial recognition technology and the culture of surveillance. New York: New York UP.

Nadesan, M.H. (2008). Governmentality, biopower, and everyday life. Florence, KY: Routledge.

See: sovereignty (a more authoritarian use of power)