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Foucault and political reason Liberalism, neo-liberalism and rationalities ament ‘The University of Chicago Press Chapter 11 Revolutions within: self-government and self-esteem Barbara Cruikshank (Gustave life from the tions about Steinem’s book are typical: “What is disturbing isto sec use. The strategic vision of so. ed with a model of personal recov- 1 is going the way of and trading in collective action and con- lection, the political for to a social relationship merely a misbegotten strat sms from crime and poverty ging a social revolato against the order ogyo vo gender inequality govern our selves EST! REVOLUTIONS WITHIN: SELF-GOVERNMENT AND M trem movement made Steinem’s book is only a small part of the self up of a whole range of experts, policy and social service professionals, and grass-roots activists. California Assembly Bill 3659, which establis ‘Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Social and Personal Responsibi states that the social problems we face today have become ungove able and seriously threaten democrat nia ‘Task Force 1990b: 102). “Government and experts cannot fix these problems for us. Itis only when cach of us recognizes our individual personal and social responsibility to be part of the solution that we also realize higher ‘self estee yrnia Task Force 1990a: viv) Thisis a social movement premised upon the limits of polities and the Welfare State, the failures of ‘American democracy and upon the of government to control isa “revolutionary” movement secking to forge a new terrain of politics and a new mode of governing the ort, the question of governance becomes a question of self gove ance in the discourse of selfesteem, Liberation therapy Personal fulfilment becomes a social obligation in the discourse of self- esteem accorcing to an innovation that transforms the relationship of self into a relationship that is governable (California Task Force 19902: ulflment is no longer a personal or private goal. According to advocates, taking up the goal of self-esteem is something we owe to soci~ eng something that will defray the costs of social problems, somet will ereate a of governabi ‘themselves guided by the expertise of the social sciences and social service professional ‘A key finding reported by the California Task Force (1990a: 4) is as follows Self-esteem is that empowers us to live responsibly and that inoculates us against the lures of crime bid abuse, chronic welfare dependency, and educational failure. The lack of self-esteem is central to most personal and social ills plagu- ing our state and nation as we approach the end of the twentieth century, lence, substance abuse, 232 LIBERATION THERAPY (0 social problem- the mobilization of an effort compared by advocates 1 discovery of the atom, and itealls for the mo tion of “every Californian” (California Task Force 1990a: c i mnovations carried the burden of social stability, bur the new science of the self places the hope of liberation in the psychological state of the people, especially poor urban people of ei “social problems” listed above are atributed. iFesteem is a technology in the sense «d knowledge of how to esteem ot discipline, and to judge our selves. It numerous agencies, associations and programmes self-esteem that are catalogued along with books and scholarly articles included in the bibliographic materials compiled by the California Task rce and in Steinem’s book; compiling research is tantamount to deli therapy: ‘One of the goals of the self-esteem movement is to clcit the part tion of as many people as possible and that means hearing their personal stories and struggles with their lack of sel repair our fellow C: (California Task Force 1990: ix) lack of self-esteem to her role i is good for all of 233, [REVOLUTIONS WITHIN: SELF-GOVERNMENT AND SELF-ESTBEM society. Steinem (1992: 29) insists that requiring teenage girs, for example, to write down their personal narratives, their feclings about teenage preg nancy and so on, can result in the prevention of teenage pregnancy. The ‘gins construct a self to act upon and to govern inthe process of writing: Selfesteem is a way to subject citizens in the sense of making them “prone to” or “subject to” take up the goals of selGesteem for themselves and their vision of the good society. Thus we make our by taking up the social goal of self-esteem. As Foucault (19 ‘explained, “through some political technology of individuals, we have been led to recognize ourselves as a society, a8 a part of a social entity as part of a nation or of a state”, A link s established between id= als goal of achieving self-esteem and the social goal of volunteer, but most importantly, work on an ‘Atall times, selesteem calls upon individuals to act, to participate. “The ‘continuation and fiture success of our democratic system of government and society are dependent upon the exercise of responsible citizenship by cach and every California i Selfstcem is a technology of ei wvaluating and acting upon our selves he doctors do not have to. This relations related to citizenship because, by depends on developing personal ‘Task Force 1990a: 22). Individuals must accep subject their selves, to voluntarily consent to establ between one’s self and a tutelary power such as ‘worker, a social programme, a/parenting class or what have you. Consent jn this case does not mean that there is no exercise of power; by isolating fa self to act upon, to appreciate and to esteem, we avail ourselves of terrain of action, we exercise power upon ourselves. "Those who have failed to lin are lumped together as “social problems”, are diagnosed as “lacking self esteem” and are charged with “antisocial beh: Society needs protection from those who lack self-esteem, aérording to acivocates Obviously social science is the foremost expert on the needs of society, along with social workers and other professionals: philanthropists, policy ex ‘Tutelary power is placed in the hands of all those interests and concerns of society at large, for exampl zenship and self-government for the guards and to our selves is directly ng a responsible citizen rapist, a social ATION THERAPY tance of sefeste (Mecca etal. 1989), ing the wellbeing of society. volume dedicated to promot- ate the blatantly coercive and measures taken by legislators, social workers and other professionals ‘under the guise of liberation therapy. Very of ty battered women, are coerced by the courts into participating in thera~ eutic programmes that aim owerment”. Mothers caught up in for example, womer the custody « -asily made into a coercive appropriate by society, by legis ing children away is primary tool of ‘empowerment” withor ‘we do t0 our selves, n Rose shows us that governing subjectivity is not consistent with central- ized power: government, depends upon the ability of g,to be governors oftheir selves. The ability ani a because it appears to emanate from our autonomous quest for ourselves, it appears as a matter of our freedom” (Rose 1990: 256), 235 REVOLL INS WITHIN; SELF-GOVERNMENT AND SELT-ESTEEM "The call for self-government and democracy is extended away from po- cal institutions and economic relations by the self-est political goals of participation, empowerment and collective are extended to the terrain of the self. Steinem turns around the feminist « «cnet liberation from social constraints but rendering psychologi- ‘al constraints on autonomy conscious, and hence amenable to rational transformation. Achieving freedom becomes @ matter not of slogans nor of political revolution, but of slow, painstaking, and detailed work on our own subjective and personal realities, guided by an expert knowledge of the psyche, (Rose 1990: 213) sd by self-esteem originates within the relation of ited tothe self Indeed, sefesteem is advocated as strategy for the democratic development of the individual and society; it outlines a whole new set of social relationships egies for theit evelopment under the expert tutelage of “liberation therapists”. The liberation pro selfto-self butis m Constituting a state of esteem “The California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Person Social Responsibility was charged by the State legislature with cory ‘existing research on the relationship between “selF-esteemn” and six social welfare dependence”, alcoholism and drug abuse, ‘academic failure, teenage pregnancy and child abuse. Neil Smelser, a sociologist and member of the task force, admits the fail ture of social scientists to identify the lack of -ported, however, is that ‘expected consequences are found between ask force forged research." Task force the lack of self-esteem and the social pro ahead, calling for increased funding for members and the social scientists involved did not diagnose, empirically discover or even describe an already existing malaise and its cure Instead, the social scientists devised methods to measure what was not there: the focus of research was on the lack of self-esteem and its social problems. “The task force included in its final report the following quotation from Professor Covington who claims that self-esteem «challenges us to be more fully human, In additior object westigation and also an explanation for behavior, self-esteem is above all a metaphor, a symbol filled with that can ignite visions of what we asa people might “Task Force 1990a: 44) links cup to a scientists have helped to produce a set of social relationships and causal relations where there were none before. 1s been instrumental in generating a self capable of self is a decidedly unscientific enterprise, In the end, social (Our purpose isto build a prima facie ca in the cau f violent crimes. Public policy do for nal proof in other realms... We see no nced to be de about advocating the importance of self-esteem, (Scheff 1990: 179) ‘The obvious ques coalition for bui social science research that sets ally, i falls to social to regulate the subject uurdiew, iberatory properties, 237

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