essay

Running​ ​head:​ ​​ ​RETHINKING​ ​BIOPOLITICS 1

Jinglin​ ​Chen

ENG106

Kurt-Voss​ ​Hoynes

2017/11/30

Rethinking​ ​Biopolitics

Part1:​ ​Article​ ​Summary

David Macey’s Rethinking Biopolitics, Race and Power in the wake of Foucault provides

a critical examination of the ambivalence in the Foucault’s illustration of the concept of

biopower and biopolitics. Macey delicately relates the power of life to the observed struggle and

war, and so is the race. The article notes that during the formation of the nation-state, both the

threat to unity as well as the strength of the population was speculated to come from a contagion

by an alien element. In such a regard, the trope of the race was aligned with the science and

technology of the social emerging at that time as part of the biopolitics. These evolved into the

new rationality of the nation as they found expression in different projects such as the public

hygiene​ ​and​ ​eugenic​ ​with​ ​the​ ​extreme​ ​application​ ​evident​ ​in​ ​Nazism​ ​(Macey,​ ​2009).

For instance, In Germany where the central state was developed with a powerfully

organized medical profession following its unification in the 1870’s, eugenic became commonly

known as the race hygiene. Following the degenerations that were associated with rapid

industrialization and urbanization, there was a need to develop a collectivist approach to the

social hygiene. The doctors played a significant role in the process asserting its authority over

the different regions. Evidently, therefore, there is a line of descent that remains, running

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different varieties of eugenics. Most of the discourses that occurred from the times of Hobbles

onwards intended to conceptualize the society as a social body and the body of politics and led to

the widespread belief that the body can be infected from within. These led to the widely

integrated equation of immigrants being equal to disease since they were associated with disease

and​ ​hence​ ​were​ ​a​ ​threat.​ ​Macey​ ​provides​ ​a​ ​comprehensive​ ​argument​ ​(Macey,​ ​2009).

Foucault in his article develops argument around the thesis that the power over life is

related to the struggle, war, and race. Throughout this article, the author provides a

comprehensive analysis of the issue of biopolitics and how the biopower has curved the history

of the specific country and provide the case of Nazism as an extreme representation of his

argument. He explicitly supports this argument by turning to the relations between race and

biopower noting that the appearance of the human race of races disrupted, to some extend the

regime of the biopower. He contends that racism is a way that is utilized to introduce a break into

the​ ​domain​ ​of​ ​life​ ​that​ ​is​ ​otherwise​ ​under​ ​the​ ​power​ ​of​ ​control.

Part​ ​2:​ ​Analysis​ ​of​ ​Thesis

The author also extends the analysis into specific cases and examples that elaborates his

points. He notes the biopower and biopolitics in Germany and the rest of Europe, contextualizing

them based on the historical presentation of the trend. The effectiveness of the argument is

based on the fact that it is explicitly builds on the conceptual relations between the biopower,

biopolitics, racism, eugenics and other pertinent issues providing elaborated instances on how

these concepts developed in different societies and how they remain revenant. One approach the

argument deploys is building on the past understanding by different scholars. As such, it

provides a formidable argument that not only highlights the past understanding of these issues

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but also refreshes their understanding. As such, the article supports the thesis through its

delicately​ ​constructed​ ​arguments.

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Reference

Macey, D. (2009). Rethinking biopolitics, race and power in the wake of Foucault. ​Theory,

Culture​ ​&​ ​Society​, ​26​(6),​ ​186-205​.