Civilizing "life itself"
Elias and Foucault
pp. 111-123
in: Tatiana Savoia Landini (ed), Norbert Elias and empirical research, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
How decisions regarding reproduction and the end of life are actually made in our societies? The administration of life, at both its beginning and end, has seen dramatic change from the second half of the twentieth century onward. The multisecular rejection of biological destiny has deeply accelerated. This rejection took two forms: first, a revolt against demands from state or society about physical destiny; second, a revolt against nature itself. The power exerted over life by state, society, or nature itself waned in the face of the power increasingly wielded by individuals in this respect.
