Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self

by Nikolas Rose

Governing the Soul is now widely recognized as one of the founding texts in a new approach to analyzing the links between political power, expertise and the self. This governmentality perspective has had important implications for a range of academic disciplines including criminology, political theory, sociology and psychology and has generated much theoretical innovation and empirical investigation. The second edition contains a new introduction, which sets out the methodological and conceptual bases of this approach. Also, a new final chapter has been added that considers some of the implications of recent developments in the government of subjectivity.

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology, Nonfiction, Theory, Anthropology, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Nikolas S. Rose

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Governing the Soul, Rose ably uses Foucauldian theory to examine the creation of the modern citizen. A person with desires, neuroses, and ambitions, at once an autonomous being and the target of technical interventions from a wide range of psychological and para-psychological experts working at the behest of the state, corporations, and schools. Each of the chapter is rather brief and very Anglo-centric, but in total they offer a rather full and complex picture of Foucauldian subjectivity, and that key characteristic of the modern lifestyle, "the obligation to be free."

[Jiang Qin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern people are confessing and self-censoring, and this transition unavoidably causes mental disorders. Psychoanalysis helps us to think in another person’s perspective and see a bigger picture, thus we can understand and accept those contradictory to our born instincts. Therefore I think it’s the brave who suffer from mental illness because they think on their own and a lonely walker might get trapped somewhere without community’s support. And it’s the necessity to get mental illness when we turn into left-alone adults from spoiled children, the former don’t get the support and understanding and rounding-up explanations from our parents or other elders as the latter.
Especially as we grow up and become stronger, the parents seems less likely to be able to guide us.

This book combines self soul development with social development such as government policies, demands of war, psychology research discoveries, which is genuine perspective and this combination makes personal psychology grander and structural.

A delicious book to read. The notion of Hygiene of psychology really inspired me! To keep physical health, we need hygiene and exercise. Mental health need hygiene too, keeping away dirty stuff such as arguing and pushing people . So what’s the exercise of mental health? So intriguing book!😊

[Andreas Jonsson]

I have no idea why people would read Foucault and then try to replicate his style of writing. The ideas, which in turn are quite interesting, get buried in endless unneccessary yapping and unfocused concepts which might sound cool but in reality muddies the thinking. Employ your concepts clearly, concisely and try to utilize a period.

Nonetheless, it is an interesting book through some of the assessments, but there really comes a point where you have to say something beyond "a discourse which constitutes the neoliberal self".

[Facu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Completa lo que Foucault no llegó a hacer en cuanto al siglo XX, pero lo hace sin crear mucho, sino en línea continuista pero con perspectiva muy relacionada a la anglósfera.

[Carlos Gameiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book is quite hard to read. However the second part becomes better. The subject of shaping our selves, to me is very interesting. We might be living in a more enchanted world than some jungle tribes and their creation myths. That was a line I won't forget.

[versarbre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academicians who deal with "psychological and behavioral science" should read this book and reflect on their own academic career and project of knowledge. Basically an application of Foucauldian analysis in studying the rise of psychological knowledge, by means of which the knowledge of "subjectivity" is advanced with greater precision in accordance with the demand of contemporary governmentality.