Foucault and Liberal Political Economy
Power, Knowledge, and Freedom
Series: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics;
- Publisher's listprice GBP 54.00
-
25 798 Ft (24 570 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 2 580 Ft off)
- Discounted price 23 219 Ft (22 113 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
25 798 Ft
Availability
Reprint in consideration
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 18 August 2025
- ISBN 9780197690529
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages352 pages
- Size 237x166x26 mm
- Weight 653 g
- Language English 0
Categories
Short description:
This book argues that the ideas of Michel Foucault, often considered the most influential 'post-modernist' thinker, are compatible with an important strain of liberal thought that values open markets, political decentralisation, and limited government. It shows how the respective traditions can be combined into a 'post-modern liberalism' critical of the expanding web of 'pastoral powers' acquired by contemporary welfare-regulatory states. As such, the book offers a highly original synthesis with multiple applications in contemporary public policy.
MoreLong description:
This highly original and innovative book is the first to comprehensively engage the ideas of the French social theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault from within the tradition of liberal political economy. Divided into two parts the book commences by demonstrating important commonalities between Foucault's ideas and those of a neglected 'post-modern' stream in liberal political and economic thought. These ideas draw on a social theory emphasising a culturally situated individualism; a philosophy of science highly critical of socio-economic 'scientism' and 'expert rule'; and an understanding of freedom as an open-ended process of 'self-creation' in the face of cultural power relations--a freedom threatened by alignments between state power and more decentred manifestations of power.
Part two combines the tools of Foucault's critical social theory with those of a post-modern liberalism to problematise four separate though overlapping 'bio-political' or 'pastoral' dispositifs in contemporary liberal societies focused on social justice, public health, ecological sustainability, and law and order. Where the Foucauldian and the post-modern liberal approaches suggest that freedom requires a cultural and economic 'creative destruction' that destabilises existing modes of thought and ways of being, the pastoral dispositifs that seek to 'monitor and correct' multiple pattern anomalies are shown to stifle the space for that creative freedom.
Though the book does not engage the question of whether Foucault himself moved towards endorsing liberal political economy, it throws considerable light on how key Foucauldian concerns may be addressed within the liberal tradition, and why Foucauldians may have reason to embrace a reconstituted or post-modern liberalism.
Regardless of whether one identifies as a liberal political economist, this book offers an intellectual treat. This book is a remarkable contribution to liberal discourse. Though I do not agree with every aspect of the book it stands as one of the most exciting and transformative books I have read in many years… It offers a unique and challenging perspective on both the practices of social science and the nature and possibilities of liberalism. No small feat.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Foucault and Liberal Political Economy
Part 1. The Elements of a Foucauldian Liberalism
The Death and Life of the Subject: Power, Agency, and Liberal Political Economy
Scientism, Science, and Expert Rule: Power/Knowledge and Liberal Political Economy
Freedom and Rights: Power/Knowledge and the Social Construction of Liberal Justice
Part II. Foucauldian Liberalism and Social Critique
Bio-Power and the Political Economy of Inequality: The Social Justice Dispositif
Bio-Power and the Political Economy of Life and Death: The Public Health Dispositif
Bio-Power and the Political Economy of Ecological Order: The Sustainability Dispositif
Bio-Power and the Political Economy of Crime and Punishment: The Law and Order Dispositif
Conclusion
