Abstract

In this essay, I argue, first, that modern biopolitics is marked less by the entry of biological life into the polis than by a new consideration of the form of life proper to humans, one defined by risk management. Second, in this regard, economics—and neoliberalism specifically—can be read as an attempt to provide an answer to what form of life is proper to humans. Third, I illustrate this with reference to the test for the BRCA (breast cancer) genetic mutation and the forms of agency it encourages.

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