Abstract
This article explores the nexus of biopolitics, mediatization and secularization, drawing out their relationship as it pertains to matters of assisted dying and euthanasia. In particular, it examines the dynamics of the media coverage of a highly-publicized case of euthanasia, namely, that of scientist David Goodall, based in Perth, Australia, who flew to Switzerland in May 2018 to end his own life at the age of 104. Focusing on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s coverage, the article keys in on the theme of embodiment, discussing it within recent developments in social theory on the “secular body” and pain, suggesting that the mediatization of his death facilitated and structured an “environment” for staging and negotiating issues of biopolitical import. It then contextualizes this analysis within broader discussions on biopolitics and secularity.
Highlights
Across the world, euthanasia, assisted dying and physician-assisted suicide have become the subject of intense political and legal wrangling and media scrutiny (Norwood 2007, p. 139).1 In liberal, secular, capitalist democracies in the West and increasingly elsewhere, the question of voluntary death makes clear the unsettled nature of our collective understanding of when life begins, a question which has more resonance culturally in the wake of the abortion debates that preceded the current wave of discussion about assisted dying, and when it ends (Kalwinsky 1998).There are several reasons for this
“environment” for staging and negotiating issues of biopolitical import. It contextualizes this analysis within broader discussions on biopolitics and secularity
For many so-called secular societies today, the lack of dominant institutional religious structures makes the process of dying open-ended and uncertain, leaving room for medical and healthcare organizations to play fill the gap left by churches and other religious institutions
Summary
Euthanasia, assisted dying and physician-assisted suicide have become the subject of intense political and legal wrangling and media scrutiny (Norwood 2007, p. 139). In liberal, secular, capitalist democracies in the West and increasingly elsewhere, the question of voluntary death makes clear the unsettled nature of our collective understanding of when life begins, a question which has more resonance culturally in the wake of the abortion debates that preceded the current wave of discussion about assisted dying, and when it ends (Kalwinsky 1998). Palin’s post and the resultant discourse of “death panels” could be seen as offering up a representative example of what scholars have been calling “mediatization”, albeit, a very specific mode which I am calling biopolitical mediatization In this instance, “death panels” became a way in which matters of life and death or, what Neilson dubs, “the general administration of human populations” (in line with Foucault’s formulation (Foucault 2010)) were discussed and reported upon, not just on social media or conservative news outlets but elsewhere. “Death panels” discourse demonstrates how the “logic of media” extends upon other aspects of social life, making the “institutional, aesthetic and technological modus operandi” of media more depended upon, as Hjarvard notes in his influential definition of mediatization (Hjarvard 2008) It shows that matters of life and death have a particular way of catching widespread attention, especially in the religious and political context of the United States and other parts of the West, including Australia. Goodall’s death was an instance of biopolitical mediatization that effectively challenges the conceptual binary of religious/secular
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call