Examines the developments in life sciences and biomedicine that have led to the politicization of medicine, human life, and biotechnology. This book analyzes molecular biopolitics, examining developments in genomics, neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychopharmacology and the ways they have affected racial politics, crime control, and psychiatry.

Acknowledgments vii List of Acronyms xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Biopolitics in the Twenty-First Century 9 Chapter 2: Politics and Life 41 Chapter 3: An Emergent Form of Life? 77 Chapter 4: At Genetic Risk 106 Chapter 5: Biological Citizens 131 Chapter 6: Race in the Age of Genomic Medicine 155 Chapter 7: Neurochemical Selves 187 Chapter 8: The Biology of Control 224 Afterword Somatic Ethics and the Spirit of Biocapital 252 Notes 261 Bibliography 305 Index 341

"This book offers a much-needed examination of recent developments that have led to the widespread politicization of medicine, human life, and biotechnology... Nikolas Rose concludes that these developments have profound consequences for who we think we are, and who we want to be."--LSE News and Views "From tattoos to organ transplants, cosmetic surgery to circumcision, obsessive dieting to exercise, the practice of manipulating bodies is increasingly widespread. But have we passed into a new phase of manipulation evidenced by the prevalent use of medicine to adjust our moods, enhance sports performance, slow ageing or alter fetuses? Nikolas Rose ... argues that a threshold has been crossed into a world of 'biological citizenship' in which humans view themselves at the molecular level, medicine is based on customization, and biology poses fewer and fewer limits on life. For Rose, however, this is not always a bad thing."--Jessica Lovaas, Journal of Biosocial Science "There is much to admire in his account of the forms that such a politics is taking, and I would encourage the reader to engage with this work."--Simon Reid-Henry, Cultural Geographies "Rose's great strength lies in drawing together disparate strands from a variety of sources--from the empirical work of colleagues to policy documents--and neatly labelling and organizing emergent tendencies to invite further reflection, often with a nod (or more) to recent French social theory."--Steve Fuller, Sociology

"While philosophers are still trying to bridge the 'mind/body' gap, Nikolas Rose shows that this gap is evaporating under our very eyes. Are we posthumans then? Not necessarily. This long and detailed inquiry considers another, rather incredible, option: a complete rethinking of what the Fathers of the Church used to call 'incarnation.'"—Bruno Latour, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines, Paris"The Politics of Life Itself offers a compelling cartography of how practices in human genomics are transforming our social landscapes, reshaping the contours of medicine, citizenship, race, and other political formations. It is sure to be widely consulted and discussed."—Stefan Helmreich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World"As a leading interpreter of Foucault's work, Rose is uniquely suited to make the theorist's ideas about biopower applicable to the twenty-first century where possible, and brave enough to reject or refine them when necessary. The result is a deft treatment of the many changes in conceptions of personhood, community, and kinship following the decoding of the human genome."—Alondra Nelson, Yale University

While philosophers are still trying to bridge the 'mind/body' gap, Nikolas Rose shows that this gap is evaporating under our very eyes. Are we posthumans then? Not necessarily. This long and detailed inquiry considers another, rather incredible, option: a complete rethinking of what the Fathers of the Church used to call 'incarnation.' -- Bruno Latour, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines, Paris The Politics of Life Itself offers a compelling cartography of how practices in human genomics are transforming our social landscapes, reshaping the contours of medicine, citizenship, race, and other political formations. It is sure to be widely consulted and discussed. -- Stefan Helmreich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of "Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World" As a leading interpreter of Foucault's work, Rose is uniquely suited to make the theorist's ideas about biopower applicable to the twenty-first century where possible, and brave enough to reject or refine them when necessary. The result is a deft treatment of the many changes in conceptions of personhood, community, and kinship following the decoding of the human genome. -- Alondra Nelson, Yale University