A biopolítica como a política da vida e da vitalidade humana : aproximações, discrepâncias, comensurabilidades e avanços conceituais nas propostas de Michel Foucault e Nikolas Rose

Abstract

This Master's Dissertation proposes to analyze the notion of biopolitics and its derived concepts as conceptualized, in the 1970s, by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. At the same time, it also intends to analyze the same notion, biopolitics, proposed in the first decade of the 21st century, by the English sociologist Nikolas Rose. Both approaches have their own characteristics. Biopolitics theorized by Michel Foucault refers to the entry of life into the political strategies of States, which occurred between the 17th and 18th centuries, when sovereign power assumed the role of managing the life and vitality of man-species, aiming to, above all, to increase the population’s level of health. The conception of biopolitics formulated by Nikolas Rose concerns the politics of life that has taken shape in the last three decades. It is not delimited by the poles of health and illness, it is concerned with optimizing human vitality and is put into practice by social actors themselves in conjunction with medical authorities. Furthermore, 21st century biopolitics is related to the formation of social relations based on shared somatic statuses. This research seeks, through Content Analysis, to identify the approximations, discrepancies and advances in relation to these concepts from one author and the other, enabling us to draw a parallel between the biopolitics defined by both authors. The results point to the coexistence and specific complementarities between the two notions of biopolitics.