ABSTRACT
This chapter revolves around the question of how affects partake in governing processes (mainly of the state but also at the workplace). The chapter first shows state-of-the-art social science research on affective states, governance, and subjectivation. Then the chapter develops the book’s approach towards governance by drawing on Michel Foucault’s concepts, which are amended by the dimension of affect: ‘affective governmentality’ and ‘affective subjectivation’ are our main conceptual pillars. Furthermore, we combine Foucault’s structural approach with Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of habitus and capital, which enables us to conceive people’s practices and agency, their self-government, in more detail. We use the concept of ‘affective capital’ to highlight processes of affective subjectivation and an economy of affect that establishes relations between people. The theoretical perspective is gender sensitive in order to assess the re-organisation of gender relations in a variety of social fields in neoliberalism.
