Hormonal regimes of life: governing living beings, biological determinism and neoliberal techniques of the self.
In light of the increased interest in state, corporate, and individual policies regarding social issues related to healthcare, emotional well-being, and human life, the article analyzes the discourse and practices presented in popular science guides on hormones. These analyses aim to address significant questions within the framework of an adopted analytical approach, which results from an alliance between governmentality studies and rhetoric culture theory. Key questions include: How is the mechanism of hormone action understood? Do the guides link hormones with social specifications? Do they offer strategies for managing hormonal imbalances? Do these guides serve as a response to the processes of implementing neoliberal technologies of governmentality – such as healthism, technologies of individual responsibility and techniques of the self – in both professional and non-professional spheres of social life?
Keywords: popular science guides, hormones, neoliberal technologies of governmentality, biological determinism, power, rhetoric, crtitical anthropology