Extract from Sanford F. Schram's The Return of Ordinary Capitalism
"Medicalization is, arguably, the main way that welfare policy discourse today creates a stage for enacting what Michel Foucault called "neoliberal governmentality," where the state is in the business of disciplining the poor to become self-disciplined citizen-subjects who will be less of a burden on the rest of us in spite of the persistent poverty they endure. Neoliberal governmentality is premised on the idea that all social life, public and private, in civil society as well as in the state and the market, should be seen as a venue for developing and deploying one's personal human capital so as to perform as a social actor consistent with market logic. This hypertrophy of market logic to become the common-sense basis for making all social choices requires that people become disciplined citizen-subjects who internalize market rationality as their social ethic. For low-income people who lack the ability to perform effectively in this manner or who simply resist the orientation, there is the emerging danger that they will be seen as in need of behavioral modification in the form of what is called behavioral health and related services offering treatment to overcome whatever personal limitations prevent them from practicing neoliberal governmentality."I highly recommend you take a look at this book. You can get your hands on it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Return-Ordinary-Capitalism-Neoliberalism-Precarity/dp/0190253029
Alternatively, if you are in Hobart, Tasmania, as I am, you can also order it from Richard at Cracked & Spineless New & Used Books, who you can contact here:
https://www.facebook.com/CrackedNSpineless/
He's already ordered it for me and knows where to get it. ;)
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