On Willing Selves: Neoliberal Politics and the Challenge of Neuroscience

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. In this vein, the authors address topics such as the genealogy of the concept of willing selves, the discourse on agency in neuroscience and sociology, the political debate on volition within neoliberal and neoconservative regimes, approaches toward novel forms of relational responsibility as well as moral evaluations in conceptualizing autonomy.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; S.Maasen & B. Sutter PART I: SELF - PAST AND PRESENT Self-Help: The Making of Neosocial Selves in Neoliberal Society; S.Maasen, B.Sutter & S.Duttweiler Technologies of the Will and their Christian Roots; I>A.Hahn&M.Schorch Governing By Will; S.Maasen, B.Sutter & S.Duttweiler PART II: SELF AND (SOCIO-)SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE Governing the Will in a Neurochemical Age; N.Rose The Person as an Effect of Communication; A.Nassehi PART III: SELF AND POLITICS Creating Citizen-Consumers? Public Service Reform and (Un)Willing Selves; J.Clarke, J. Newman & L.Westmarland Neopolitics: Voluntary Action in the Neoconservative Regime; B.Cruikshank 'Craving' Research: Smart Drugs and the Elusiveness of Desire; M.Valverde PART IV: SELF AND MORALITY From Voluntary to Relational Action: Responsibility and Value in a Global Context; K.J.Gergen The Role of the Self-Model for Self-Determination; T.Vierkant

About the Author :
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.