‘Civilizing technologies’ and the control of deviance

Abstract

This article contributes to cultural theorizations of the regulation of deviant forms of thought and behaviour through an analysis of scientific accounts of, and approaches to, managing ‘behavioural addictions’. Much cultural analysis assumes that biomedical formulations of addiction simply provide a scientific facade for forms of social control, and hence, that such formulations are unworthy of serious consideration. I argue that critical inquiries into processes of social change and social regulation could be strengthened by carefully considering, and engaging with, contemporary addiction medicine; and provide an example of such an approach by examining some of the new descriptions of people, emotions and behaviours – as well as new means of acting on individuals, feelings and conduct – that have begun to emerge within theories, therapies and popular science representations that frame behavioural addictions as brain diseases. Although recognizing the validity of some biomedical claims – for example, that there are physiological components to behavioural compulsions, and that effective addiction therapies may act on the bodies of patients – I argue against conceptualizing behavioural compulsions as diseases, and against conceptualizing therapeutic interventions for such compulsions as ‘treatments’. Instead, I make the case that, according to biomedical discourses themselves, it is more accurate to describe addiction interventions – which are used to produce better citizens, rather than to cure biological diseases – as ‘civilizing technologies’.