Governing Affects: Neoliberalism, Neo-Bureaucracies, and Service Work (Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Emotions) - Softcover

Penz, Otto; Sauer, Birgit

Softcover

ISBN 10: 103208233X ISBN 13: 9781032082332

Publisher: Routledge, 2021

Synopsis

Governing Affects explores the neoliberal transformation of state governance in Europe towards affective forms of dominance exercised by customer-oriented neo-bureaucracies and public service providers.

By investigating the rise of affective labour in contemporary European service societies and the conversion of state administrations into business-like public services, the authors trace the transformative power of neoliberal political thought as it is put into practice. The book examines new affective modes of subjectivation and activation of public employees, as well as their embodiment of affective requirements, to successfully guide and advise citizens. Neoliberalism induces a double agency in neo-bureaucrats: entrepreneurialism is coupled with affective skills for the purpose of governing clients in their own best interests. These competences are unevenly distributed between the genders, as their affective dispositions differ historically. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of Foucault and Bourdieu, the book offers innovative insights into recent processes of state transformation, affective subjectivation, and changes in labour relations.

By combining theory building on governance with empirical research in key areas of state power, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers in a broad range of disciplines, including political science, political sociology, and critical governance studies.

About this title

About the Author

Otto Penz is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Vienna. His research interests include political sociology and sociology of the body. He is the author of numerous books, one recently with Birgit Sauer: Affektives Kapital: Die Ökonomisierung der Gefühle im Arbeitsleben, 2016.

Birgit Sauer is a Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science, University of Vienna. Her research interests include gender and politics, gender, right-wing populism, and affect. One of her recent publications is the edited volume, with Mojca Pajnik: Populism and the Web: Communicative Practices of Parties and Movements in Europe, 2017.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 103208233X
• ISBN 13: 9781032082332
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 186