On willing selves : neoliberal politics vis-à-vis the neuroscientific challenge / edited by Sabine Maasen and Barbara Sutter.

Format:

• Book

Contributor:

• Maasen, Sabine, 1960-
• Sutter, Barbara.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Will.
• Neurosciences.
• Self.
• Political science--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

x, 234 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Plagrave Macmiilan, 2007.

Summary:

• 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.

Contents:

• Introduction : reviving a sociology of willing selves / Sabine Maasen, Barbara Sutter
• Self, past and present
• Self-help : the making of neoscocial selves in neoliberal society / Sabine Maasen, Barbara Sutter and Stefanie Duttweiler
• Technologies of the will and their Christian roots / Alois Hahn, Marén Schorch
• Self and (socio-)scientific knowledge
• Governing the will in a neurochemical age / Nikolas Rose
• The person as an effect of communication / Armin Nassehi
• Self and politics
• Creating citizen-consumers? public service reform and (un)willing selves / John Clarke, Janet Newman, Louise Westmarland
• Neopolitics : voluntary action in the new regieme / Barbara Cruikshank
• 'Craving' research : smart drugs and the elusiveness of desire / Mariana Valverde
• Self and morality
• From voluntary to relational action : responsibility in question / Kenneth J. Gergen
• The role of the self-model for self-determination / Tillmann Vierkant.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

• 0230013430
• 9780230013438

OCLC:

141188030

Online:

• Publisher description
• Contributor biographical information