Homo economicus was always the basis of a new governmental reason

Evidence

I think ‘this paradox enables us to pinpoint the problem I would like to say something about, which is precisely this: since the eighteenth century, has homo ceconom£cus involved setting up an essentially <t,ncl unconditionally irreducible element against any possible government? Does the definition ofhomo ceconom£eus involve marking outthe zone that ”- -is definitively inaccessible to any government action? … Obviously,the wayin which I haveformu,- lated this question gives the answer straightaway, but this is what I would like to talk about, that is to say, homo ceconomt”cus as the partner, the vis-a.-vis, and the basic element of the new governmental reason formulated in: the eighteenth century. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1412

Categorization

• QUESTION: Foucault poses and immediately signals the answer to the question of whether homo economicus was an atom of freedom against government or the partner of a new governmental reason — worth chasing how this resolves in later lectures.
• XREF: connects to: Homo economicus is a grid of intelligibility, not a full anthropology, enabling governability — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1317; Foucault saw homo oeconomicus as enabling, not resisting, governmental reason. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 491; Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 80

Broader Connections

• Foucault saw homo oeconomicus as enabling, not resisting, governmental reason. #corroborates (0.88) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 491
• Homo economicus is a grid of intelligibility, not a full anthropology, enabling governability #expands (0.82) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1317
• Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set #expands (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 80