TY  - BOOK
AU  - Cruikshank,Barbara
TI  - The Will to Empower: Democratic Citizens and Other Subjects 
SN  - 9781501733918
PY  - 2019///]
CY  - Ithaca, NY : 
PB  - Cornell University Press, 
KW  - Philosophy
KW  - Political Science & Political History
KW  - PHILOSOPHY / Political
KW  - bisacsh
N1  - Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; Introduction: Small Things --; 1. Democratic Subjects --; 2. The Liberal Arts of Governance --; 3. The Will to Empower: Technologies of Citizenship and the War on Poverty --; 4. Revolutions Within: Self-Government and Self-Esteem --; 5. Welfare Queens: Ruling by Number --; Conclusion: Iteration --; Notes --; Index; restricted access
N2  - How do liberal democracies produce citizens who are capable of governing themselves? In considering this question, Barbara Cruikshank rethinks central topics in political theory, including the relationship between welfare and citizenship, democracy and despotism, and subjectivity and subjection. Drawing on theories of power and the creation of subjects, Cruikshank argues that individuals in a democracy are made into self-governing citizens through the small-scale and everyday practices of voluntary associations, reform movements, and social service programs. She argues that our empowerment is a measure of our subjection rather than of our autonomy from power. Through a close examination of several contemporary American "technologies of citizenship"—from welfare rights struggles to philanthropic self-help schemes to the organized promotion of self-esteem awareness—she demonstrates how social mobilization reshapes the political in ways largely unrecognized in democratic theory. Although the impact of a given reform movement may be minor, the techniques it develops for creating citizens far extend the reach of govermental authority. Combining a detailed knowledge of social policy and practice with insights from poststructural and feminist theory, The Will to Empower shows how democratic citizens and the political are continually recreated
UR  - https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501733918
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781501733918
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781501733918/original
ER  -