Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology

Volume 16, Issue 2, Spring 2012

From "Bio-Power" to "Neuropolitics"
Stepping beyond Foucault

According to Foucault, power in modern society is diffuse and pervasive, and works through the agency of free subjects. Its imperatives are internalized by indi­viduals who become self-disciplined, are tied to a particular identity, and govern their own behavior accordingly. Drawing on recent insights from neuroscience, the whole process of norm internalization can be seen as an expression of “neuropower” and a form of “neuropolitics” through which social and power relations become ingrained not just in human bodies and minds, but also in human brains. In recent decades, this process has been partly reversed as a result of the proliferation of information technologies and the electronic media.