It is fair to say that everyone lives their life, broadly speaking, unaware of the structures that underpin it, the choices we make and the direction we take. The majority of the population will live their live striving for more, to achieve the most out of their life: though for what reason? Superficially we would say happiness and validation, but what is this for, other than our self-fulfilment? And why is self-fulfilment so important?
At face value, the idea of ‘neoliberal governmentality’ seems a positive. Citizens are promised new levels of freedom, consumerism, customisation, interactivity and control over their life and possessions. In other words, they are promised an unfulfilled expectation as to the extent to which they are able to exert their individual agency. Satisfaction and validation are measured in relation to your productivity. Thus, investing in yourself means you will get better outcomes. For example, by attending University you pay for the privilege to get the skills to work and create a more ‘fulfilled’ life. These ideas have been understood through the work of Foucault. However, when looking deeper at this structure of governmentality, it perhaps does not seem so sincere. Criticising it is hard to do as this is our way of life, (and would be near impossible to change due to the rigidity of its structure), and it is true we do find internal pleasure in satisfaction. But critical analysis is important in order to uncover the prevailing mechanisms through which we view our life.
These positive outcomes from individual investment (not necessarily in monetary terms but in the investment in skills etc) actually stem from the irreversible needs of capitalism. Looking at this from the example of University education, we are all aware that university is heavily advertised to children, even through primary school. However, could advertising University as a means of bettering yourself act as a veil to cover the capitalist undercurrents that are blind to humanity and individual success, but rather crave consumption and profit. We are told we need to go to University to better ourselves but it’s actually because we pay for it, and with the skills acquired, we then go on make more money which greatly benefits the economy. University does enhance lives and skills, and that is the reason we believe we go, and there is not fault in this, as internally these enrich our lives. But the external driving force for this is actually capitalism, which we sometimes fail to see. Individual validation students gain is just short-term fulfilment that does help you have a successful life. But this is a successful life that we have been made to believe directly correlates with happiness. This correlation is what underpins capitalism, because happiness can actually derive from anywhere.
Measurement is key to this structure, as without it, success cannot be compared, and thus competition would not exist. Neoliberalism as a form of capitalism cannot function without these incentive structures. Measurement of success, therefore, is how everyone’s life is governed, and determines the direction your life takes.
All these observations can be quite frightening, because who really knows what meaning there is to life, or whether there is really meaning. In this reading, we are trapped in a closed system, but this system also has no external point in the grand scheme of the universe either. Is this real life? What is life? Why are we here? We understand that real life may not be as it seems, but we should not dwell! Even if success feeds into a greater system, we can’t escape it. Fulfilment and validation ARE necessary to live a happy life, (despite its other uses!) Even if there is no external point in humanity, we might as well make the most of it!