Throughout western governments there has been a focus on utilizing French philosopher Michael Foucault governmentality theory (Krasmann 2015). Foucault governmentality theory has been applied to various health conditions with regards to health promotion campaigns. In this essay I will be examining the key concepts around governmentality, whilst applying it to health issues related to smoking.
Foucault governmentailty shades away from previously used government method of governing by virtue of focusing on societies (Scott, 2016). Govnermentlity goes further by focusing on and utilizing indirect approaches to promote individualised management through forging knowledge to create informed choices based on the person own opinion and beliefs. (Scott, …show more content…
The partnership is one of empowerment through a shared relationship between the government and person to maintain a healthy life style for the person and overall society (Henwood et.al 2001). To do this the government promotes health knowledge in a way that it's condescending and allows for the individual person to maintain autonomy over their health. Scott (2016) uses the example of an individual's story in her lecture to show how condescending health promotion can backfire for the promoter. The individual's story focusses on how they are less like to do something if it came across as condescending and came from a source they can't relate to. For instance, the story uses the example of the push play campaign and how they wouldn't follow it's recommendations as the information came across as they were directly being told what to do. Furthermore, the author of the story strongly express they didn't connect with the campaign due to how and who promoted it. Ultimately how the author of the story feels about the campaign can be best summed up by their words of "I'm not going to have all these people in white suits and disco bells telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing" (Scott, 2016 pg.3). To counter act the person feeling, like they are being told what to do, the government as mentioned uses different forms of discreet manipulation (Crawshaw, 2012). The idea behind the manipulation is to take the spot light of themselves and place back on the individual (Crawshaw,
Foucault governmentailty shades away from previously used government method of governing by virtue of focusing on societies (Scott, 2016). Govnermentlity goes further by focusing on and utilizing indirect approaches to promote individualised management through forging knowledge to create informed choices based on the person own opinion and beliefs. (Scott, …show more content…
The partnership is one of empowerment through a shared relationship between the government and person to maintain a healthy life style for the person and overall society (Henwood et.al 2001). To do this the government promotes health knowledge in a way that it's condescending and allows for the individual person to maintain autonomy over their health. Scott (2016) uses the example of an individual's story in her lecture to show how condescending health promotion can backfire for the promoter. The individual's story focusses on how they are less like to do something if it came across as condescending and came from a source they can't relate to. For instance, the story uses the example of the push play campaign and how they wouldn't follow it's recommendations as the information came across as they were directly being told what to do. Furthermore, the author of the story strongly express they didn't connect with the campaign due to how and who promoted it. Ultimately how the author of the story feels about the campaign can be best summed up by their words of "I'm not going to have all these people in white suits and disco bells telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing" (Scott, 2016 pg.3). To counter act the person feeling, like they are being told what to do, the government as mentioned uses different forms of discreet manipulation (Crawshaw, 2012). The idea behind the manipulation is to take the spot light of themselves and place back on the individual (Crawshaw,