Governing by Nudge: New Rationalities of Public Health Policies and their Not-So Rational Other (Timm Brückmann M.A.; Prof. Peter Lindner; DFG proposal in preparation)
In response to the observed crisis in neoclassical thought and the concept of homo oeconomicus, policy circles around the globe are increasingly focusing on new approaches from which address practical problems and administrative challenges. In this context the subdiscipline of behavioural economics has received prominent attention, as it offers insights and methods that promise to prevent subjects from making irrational choices and suggests new modes of socio-political governance. In particular the concept of “nudging” has risen to prominence as a way of optimizing individual decisions – “more efficient”, “healthier”, “more environmentally friendly” etc. – by designing the respective choice architectures. The project problematizes the different ways in which insights from behavioural economics and neoliberal approaches interconnect. Taking epistemic practices in public health policies as an example it analyses exactly how and at what socio-political ‘cost’ behavioural economics’ knowledge is translated into programs and technologies designed to govern human behaviour.