Foucault Studies (Jun 2016)
Rituals of Conduct and Counter-Conduct
Abstract
This essay provides an account of the role of ritual in governmentality (or the conducting of conduct) through an analysis of key texts during the period roughly from 1973 through 1981. I claim that ritual plays an essential role in Foucault’s analysis of juridical forms and sovereign power as well as conduct and counter-conduct understood as features of governmentality and political rationality.
Keywords