Economics is lateral to governing, not its internal rationality
Evidence
Political economy is indeed a science, a type of knowledge (savoir), a mode of knowledge (connaissance) which those who govern must take into account. But economic science cannot be the science of government and economics cannot be the internal principle, law, rule of conduct, or rationality of government. Economics is a science lateral to the art of governing. One must govern with economics, one must govern alongside economists, one must governby listening to the economists, but economics must not be and there is no question that it can be the governmental rationality itself. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1467
Categorization
- DEFINE: Establishes the key Foucaultian distinction: economics as a science ‘lateral to the art of governing,’ never government’s own rationality.
- XREF: This ‘lateral’ relation of economic science to government anticipates Foucault’s later account of liberal governmentality and the critique of ‘economism’ in government. — connects to: Economics serves power more effectively when it operates in innocence of serving it — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 241; Governments conflate capitalist economic rationality with rationality itself. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 369; Public legitimacy of economics rests on its predictive and prescriptive authority — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 679 (+13 more)
Broader Connections
- Economics has replaced politics as the governing science of the state
#contradicts(0.92) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 154 - Economic and juridical-political thought are heterogeneous and incompatible worlds
#corroborates(0.88) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1454 - Power relations interlock with economics without being subordinate to it.
#corroborates(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 33 - Economic dominance does not automatically translate into political rule
#corroborates(0.82) - Neoliberalism is a governing rationality, not just economic policy or ideology.
#corroborates(0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 14 - Political rationality enables and legitimates governing instruments rather than serving them.
#corroborates(0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 220 - Economics actively shapes the economy rather than merely describing it
#expands(0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1987 - Political economy originally meant governing economically, not economy as government’s model.
#corroborates(0.72) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 495