Theory & Philosophy
Achille Mbembe vs. Michel Foucault
Jul 20, 2023
Achille Mbembe and Michel Foucault discuss their concepts of necropolitics and biopolitics, highlighting the differences. They explore how biopolitics focuses on individual power and neoliberalism, while necropolitics delves into the deliberate ending of lives based on race and gender. The podcast also explores the control and manipulation within capitalist society and the hidden ways power operates to shape desires and needs.
12:10
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Quick takeaways
- Foucault's notion of bio politics focuses on controlling people's lives and livelihoods through manipulating their desires and needs, often achieved through algorithms and targeted advertising.
- Mbembe challenges the idea that bio politics alone is the prevailing form of power today, as necropolitics acknowledges intentional violence to sustain old power structures.
Deep dives
Foucault's notion of bio politics and the emergence of control
Foucault's notion of bio politics emerged in a time when state power transformed into individual power. Instead of people submitting to states and royalty, they embraced individualism and liberalism. However, Foucault argues that the control found under previous forms of governance, such as states and royalty, did not disappear. They became ingrained in our sense of ourselves as individuals, reflected in various constraints unnoticed in our daily lives. This control extended to institutions like prisons and mental asylums that enforced normal conduct. Bio politics focuses on controlling people's lives and livelihoods through manipulating their desires and needs, often achieved through algorithms and targeted advertising.
