Governmentality, new population and subjectivity

Abstract

This article discusses the connection between governmentality, population and subjectivity. This association is based on the case study of the Boarding School for the Gifted Disadvantaged in Israel, a state-run organization that was founded in 1961 for ‘ethnic’ (or Oriental) citizens and is still in operation today. The case study shows how, in the first decade of Israel's independence, the new socio-political order created a new population of people termed ‘gifted disadvantaged’, thus creating a new subjectivity among the ethnic population. This population is shown to be located in a liminal life-space, as occupying the new sphere of ‘positive deviation’, and as characterized by ‘non-naturally’ giftedness. The discussion section describes how the construction of a new population also implies a specific hermeneutics of subjectivity, which in turn helps reinforce governmental rationality (governmentality).