Rearticulating the Concept of the Dispositive: Combining STS and an Analytics of Government

Abstract

This article first elucidates the diverse meanings of the French notion of dispositifand contrasts it with the usages of “apparatus” (“appareil”) on the one hand and “assemblage” (“agencement”) on the other. The second part presents Foucault’s distinctive use of the concept of the dispositive. The argument is based on the thesis that Foucault’s notion of the dispositive is firmly anchored in an analytics of government, as it focuses on steering and regulating agentic forces and vital processes. In the last part I propose combining an analytics of government, following Foucault, with insights from science and technology studies (STS). I argue that this theoretical synthesis between STS and an analytics of government helps to correct the problems many accounts from political sociology and social and political theory face in addressing transformations and changes in contemporary societies.

Keywords

• dispositivo
• michel foucault
• sts
• analítica do governo.