Governing the Present

The literature on governmentality has had a major impact across thesocial sciences over the past decade, and much of this has drawnupon the pioneering work by Peter Miller and Nikolas Rose. Thisvolume will bring together key papers from their work for the firsttime, including those that set out the basic frameworks, conceptsand ethos of this approach to the analysis of political power andthe state, and others that analyse specific domains of the conductof conduct, from marketing to accountancy, and from thepsychological management of organizations to the government ofeconomic life.
Bringing together empirical papers on the government ofeconomic, social and personal life, the volume demonstrates clearlythe importance of analysing these as conjoint phenomena rather thanseparate domains, and questions some cherished boundaries betweendisciplines and topic areas. Linking programmes and strategies forthe administration of these different domains with the formation ofsubjectivities and the transformation of ethics, the papers cast anew light on some of the leading issues in contemporary socialscience modernity, democracy, reflexivity andindividualisation.
This volume will be indispensable for all those, from whateverdiscipline in the social sciences, who have an interest in theconcepts and methods necessary for critical empirical analysis ofpower relations in our present.