Foucault, Public Finance, and Neoliberal Governmentality: A Critical Sociological Analysis

Abstract

Over the past three decades, fiscal sociology has increasingly gained traction among scholars in the fields of public finance, sociology, and politics as the market economies plunged into
recession periodically. With the 2008 global crisis, things have turned worse not only for economies but also for the broader social systems under the severe problems of the rising inequalities as a worrisome trend between and within countries. Fiscal sociology scholarship is seen as a promising research program by those who seek to understand complex and interrelated causes, effects and consecutive developments of the crisis. This paper aims to make a contribution to the critical fiscal sociological approach. To that aim, French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault and contemporary governmentality literature after Foucault will be reviewed. The paper constructs a framework for a broader sociological understanding of the current situation and crisis of public finance in theory and practice. Accordingly, public finance in the neoliberal context is described as a constructive governmental technology that carves out state policies and a type of public organization at the macro level and conducts the behaviors of individuals at the micro level of everyday life in a way to spread the market logic to the fiscal and, in turn, non-economic social domains. 

Keywords

• Foucault
• Governmentality
• Neoliberalism
• Public Finance
• Financialization
• Fiscal Sociology

Foucault, Kamu Maliyesi ve Neoliberal Yönetimsellik: Eleştirel Sosyolojik Bir Analiz

Abstract

Piyasa ekonomileri aralıklı olarak durgunluğa girdikçe mali sosyoloji kamu maliyesi, sosyoloji ve siyaset bilimi alanlarında çalışanların gözünde son otuz yılda gittikçe kabul görmeye
başladı. 2008 küresel krizi ile birlikte, sadece ekonomiler için değil, aynı zamanda ülkeler arasında ve ülkelerin kendi içinde endişe verici bir eğilim olarak yükselen eşitsizliklerin ağır problemleri altında daha geniş planda toplumsal sistemler için de işler kötüleşti. Mali sosyoloji bilimsel alanı krizin karmaşık ve iç içe geçmiş nedenlerini, etkilerini ve ardıl gelişmelerini anlamaya çalışanlar tarafından potansiyeli yüksek bir araştırma programı olarak görülmektedir. Bu makale eleştirel mali sosyolojik yaklaşıma katkı sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda Fransız filozof ve tarihçi Michel Foucault ve ondan sonra gelişen yönetimsellik yazını gözden geçirilecektir. Çalışma kamu maliyesinin güncel durumunu ve krizini teoride ve pratikte daha geniş bir sosyolojik anlayış içinde kavrayabilen bir çerçeve çıkarmaktadır. Buna göre, neoliberal bağlamda kamu maliyesi makro düzeyde devlet politikalarını ve belirli bir kamusal örgütlenme tarzını biçimlendiren ve gündelik yaşamın mikro düzeyinde bireylerin davranışlarını yöneten, bunu piyasa mantığını mali ve oradan ekonomik olmayan sosyal alanlara yayacak biçimde gerçekleştiren inşa edici bir yönetimsel teknoloji olarak tanımlanmaktır. 

Keywords

• Foucault
• Yönetimsellik
• Neoliberalizm
• Kamu Maliyesi
• Finansallaşma
• Mali Sosyoloji

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