Hayek Program Podcast Mark Pennington on Foucault’s Lessons for Liberal Political Economy
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Jul 23, 2025 Mark Pennington, a Professor of Political Economy at King’s College London, delves into the intersection of Foucault's theories and liberalism. He argues that Foucault’s insights on self-creation and biopolitics align with liberal concerns about social control. They discuss the implications of disciplinary power, technocratic policymaking, and the importance of pluralism. Pennington also highlights how incorporating humanities perspectives can enhance understanding in political economy, urging a more robust engagement with identity and creativity.
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Foucault Can Be Read As Liberal Resource
- Foucault contains liberal-compatible resources, especially around self-creation and skepticism of social control.
- Pennington argues liberals should engage Foucault to strengthen liberal pluralism and resist technocratic overreach.
Left Critiques Diverge From Foucault's Later Lectures
- Many critics (e.g., Wendy Brown) use early Foucault to deconstruct neoliberalism, not his later biopolitics lectures.
- Pennington says those biopolitics lectures actually show Foucault finding some liberal elements useful against welfare-state effects.
Self-Creation Mirrors Hayekian Agency
- Foucault's freedom centers on self-creation: agents can remake themselves within discourses.
- Pennington links this to Hayekian situated agency and entrepreneurial capacity to reshape institutions.
