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Concept
Governmentality
Summary
Governmentality is a concept first developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in the later years of his life, roughly between 1977 and his death in 1984, particularly in his lectures at the Collège de France during this time.
Governmentality can be understood as:
the organized practices (mentalities, rationalities, and techniques) through which subjects are governed
Governmentality may also be understood as:
the "art of government"
the "how" of governing (that is, the calculated means of directing how we behave and act)
"governmental rationality"
"a 'guideline' for the analysis that Michel Foucault offers by way of historical reconstructions embracing a period starting from Ancient Greece right through to modernity and neo-liberalism"
"the techniques and strategies by which a society is rendered governable"
The "reasoned way of governing best and, at the same time, reflection on the best possible way of governing"
Peter Miller, Nikolas Rose and Mitchell Dean, among other scholars, have elaborated on the notion of governmentality.
This term was thought by some commentators to be made by the "...linking of governing ("gouverner") and modes of thought ("mentalité")".
In fact, it was not coined by uniting words "gouvernement" and "mentalité", but simply by making gouvernement into gouvernementalité just like musical into musicalité [i.e. government + -al- adjective + -ité abstract noun] (see Michel Senellart's "Course Context" in Foucault's "Security, territory, population" lectures). To fully understand this concept, it is important to realize that in this case, Foucault does not only use the standard, strictly political definition of "governing" or government used today, but he also uses the broader definition of governing or government that was employed until the eighteenth century. That is to say, that in this case, for Foucault, "...'government' also signified problems of self-control, guidance for the family and for children, management of the household, directing the soul, etc.
Official source
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