Homo economicus is a grid of intelligibility, not a full anthropology, enabling governability

Evidence

We only move over to the side of the subject himself inasmuch as-and we will come back to this, because it is very important, I am telling you this in a very roughwaY=‘Ye can approach it throughthe angle, the aspect, the kind of network of intelligibility of his behavior as econonllcbehavior. The subject is considered only as homo reconomicus, which does notmean that the whole subject is considered as homoreconomicus. In other words, considering the subject as homo recondmicus does not imply an anthropological identification of any behavior whatsoever with economic behavior. It simply means that economic behavior is the grid of intelligibility one will adopt on the behavior of a new individual. It also means that the individual becomes governmentalizable,* that power gets a hold on him to the extent, and only to the extent, that he is a homo reconomicus. That is to say, the surface of contact between the individual and the power exercised on him, and so the principle of the regulation of power over the individual, will be only this kind ofgrid ofhomo reconomicus. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1317

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘homo economicus’ is a limited analytic grid, not a claim that all behavior is economic.
• DEEPTHINKING: The core theoretical move: power grips individuals only through this economic grid, making them ‘governmentalizable’ — dense and paradigm-shifting for the field.
• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s earlier governmentality lectures and the general question of how subjectification and power intersect. — connects to: Adam Smith’s homo economicus was culturally specific, not a natural universal type — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 86; Correcting homo oeconomicus’s falsity leaves the governance question untouched — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 204; Economics is lateral to governing, not its internal rationality — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1467 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Correcting homo oeconomicus’s falsity leaves the governance question untouched #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 204
• Economics is lateral to governing, not its internal rationality #corroborates (0.78) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1467
• Power relations interlock with economics without being subordinate to it. #corroborates (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 33