Configurations of Dutch Liberal Governmentality. Continuities and Discontinuities in Classical and Neoliberal Social Security Discourses

Abstract

This contribution applies Foucault’s considerations on liberal configurations of security and freedom to two Dutch discourses on social security: the discourse surrounding the Poor Law in the mid-nineteenth century and the life course discourse. The paper observes both continuities and discontinuities between the two discourses. Discontinuity is expressed primarily in the specific subject constructions. On the other hand, however, the contrasts between the classical liberal and neoliberal discourse turn out to be less marked as in both discourses the now is colonized by the future.