Control Culture

Is control the cultural logic of the 21st century?

• The most extensive examination yet of control across disciplines and cultural modes of expression
• An important collection for anyone interested in the relation between present-day politics and culture
• Interrogates control as a cultural logic
• Includes incisive readings on Foucault’s and Deleuze’s conceptions of discipline and control
• Contributes to ongoing interrogations into the fate of biopolitics

Starting from Deleuze’s brief but influential work on control, the 11 essays in this book focus on how control mechanisms influence, and are influenced by, cultural expression today. They also collectively re-evaluate Foucault and Deleuze’s theories of discipline and control in light of the continued development of biopolitics.

Written by an impressive line-up of contemporary scholars of philosophy, politics and culture, the essays cover the particularity of control in relation to various fields and modes of expression including literature, cinema, television, music and philosophy.

Case studies include:

• Ray Bradbury's short story 'The Pedestrian'
• M. NourbeSe Philip's 2008 poetry book ZONG!
• French Renaissance philosopher and author Michel de Montaigne
• Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution by Wendy Brown (2015)
• the band The Grateful Dead
• The Bourne Identity
• the TV show Spooks
• Redeployment, an award-winning book of short stories of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan by ex-marine Phil Klay
• Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's influential 1986 philosophy book Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature

Contributors

Neel Ahuja, University of California-Santa Cruz, USA.

Frida Beckman, Stockholm University, Sweden.

Colleen Glenney Boggs, Dartmouth College, USA.

Gregory Flaxman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.

Seb Franklin, King’s College, London, UK.

Carin Franzén, Linköping University, Sweden.

Colin Gardner, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.

Gregg Lambert, Syracuse University.

Paul Patton, The University of New South Wales, Australia.

Jeffrey T. Nealon, Penn State University, USA.

Cary Wolfe, Rice University, USA.