Governmentality

The term governmentality emerges from the later writings of the philosopher Michel Foucault, when his attention turned to “the problem of population.” This interest in population stems from Foucault's already established interest in “biopolitics,” by which he means the networks and strategies of power in the science and maintenance of the self. In bringing issues of population to biopolitics, government alerts us to the articulation of legitimate conduct with ideas of productive citizenship and personal worth. Furthermore, a productive and expanding body of research has set out to examine the extent to which practices of consumption and orderly consumerist behavior have become integrated with the activities and displays of productive citizenship.