TY - JOUR

T1 - Biopolitical bordering

T2 - Enacting populations as intelligible objects of government

AU - Scheel, Stephan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.

PY - 2020/11/1

Y1 - 2020/11/1

N2 - Since Foucault introduced the notion of biopolitics, it has been fiercely debated—usually in highly generalized terms—how to interpret and use this concept. This article argues that these discussions need to be situated, as biopolitics have features that do not travel from one site to the next. This becomes apparent if we attend to an aspect of biopolitics that has only received scant attention so far: the knowledge practices required to constitute populations as intelligible objects of government. To illustrate this point, the article focuses on processes of biopolitical bordering: the delineation of the target population that is to be known via statistical practices. Drawing on the example of Estonia I show that methodological decisions involved in this work have important biopolitical implications as they affect the size and composition of the population, thus shaping the design of programmes of government aiming at its regulation.

AB - Since Foucault introduced the notion of biopolitics, it has been fiercely debated—usually in highly generalized terms—how to interpret and use this concept. This article argues that these discussions need to be situated, as biopolitics have features that do not travel from one site to the next. This becomes apparent if we attend to an aspect of biopolitics that has only received scant attention so far: the knowledge practices required to constitute populations as intelligible objects of government. To illustrate this point, the article focuses on processes of biopolitical bordering: the delineation of the target population that is to be known via statistical practices. Drawing on the example of Estonia I show that methodological decisions involved in this work have important biopolitical implications as they affect the size and composition of the population, thus shaping the design of programmes of government aiming at its regulation.

KW - Biopolitics

KW - governmentality

KW - performativity

KW - politics of method

KW - statistics

KW - Sociology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078402438&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1368431019900096

DO - 10.1177/1368431019900096

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85078402438

VL - 23

SP - 571

EP - 590

JO - European Journal of Social Theory

JF - European Journal of Social Theory

SN - 1368-4310

IS - 4

ER -