Foucault’s own method failed to track the popular dissemination of the rationality he theorized

Evidence

The lectures on neoliberalism have another odd feature. Despite their prescience and rich insights, they largely comprise partial and speculative intellectual histories. As such, they do not abide by Foucault’s own rules for grasping the complex emergence of governing rationalities and subject formations. With one or two small exceptions, they do not study popular or political discourses contributing to, carrying, or disseminating neoliberal reason. They do not explore the polyvalence of discourses generating neoliberal rationality and, again with a minor exception or two, they do not explore how other discourses compromise, modify, or transform neoliberal reason. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 90

Categorization

• XREF: This is a methodological genealogy point — the lectures depart from Foucault’s own genealogical rules, which Brown then builds on to fill the gap. — connects to: Foucault’s later work broke from his own earlier discourse-determinism — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 697

Broader Connections

• Foucault’s later work broke from his own earlier discourse-determinism #complicates (0.70) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 697