Foucault and political reason
Liberalism, neo-liberalism and
rationalities ament
‘The University of Chicago PressChapter 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 selvesEST!
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),
235REVOLL
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
Fractional Differential Equations: An Introduction to Fractional Derivatives, Fractional Differential Equations, to Methods of Their Solution and Some of Their Applications