Hypothesis of a Biopolitical Genealogy of Taste

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to rethink the notion of biopolitics in a somewhat “neutral” sense, i.e., not exactly opposed to Foucault’s negative sense of discipline of the body determined by a given sociohistorical setting, but emphasizing the necessarily biopolitical nature of any conceivable relationship among humans, regardless of whether it is from the top down, such as that of the state over the people, or the more “horizontal” relationships of micro-power in daily life. In other words, there is no relationship of power among humans in which bodies do not play a central role. And there is no relationship between bodies that is not mediated by taste (or inclination). Taste, in turn, is not innate but culturally mediated. Therefore, an investigation that takes the concept of taste as a starting point can contribute to our understanding of power relationships in general, in which capitalistically socialized communication devices, i.e., the media, play a major role today.