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What’s Not to See? Foucault on Invisible Political Economy in Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson

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  • Heath, Eugene

Abstract

In his lectures of 1978-1979, published posthumously as The Birth of Biopolitics, Michel Foucault addressed versions of liberalism in which an invisible market appears immune to government intervention. Among the thinkers discussed were Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson. This essay offers critical reflections on Foucault’s description of Smith as emphasizing the invisibility of the economy, as well as on Foucault’s interpretation of the “invisible hand” and his ascription of egoism to Smith’s economic agents. Foucault also appeals to Ferguson’s notion of civil society to resolve incompatibilities between economic agents and the sovereign. However, Ferguson’s theory of society does not provide the assistance that Foucault thinks it does. Moreover, like Smith, Ferguson holds no egoistic view of economic motivation. Nonetheless, and surprisingly, Foucault would have found enticing Ferguson’s use of conjectural history, with its appeal to the unintended, contingent, and conflictual basis of social change.

Suggested Citation

  • Heath, Eugene, 2023. "What’s Not to See? Foucault on Invisible Political Economy in Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson," SocArXiv nw5rk, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:nw5rk
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/nw5rk
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nils Goldschmidt, 2018. "The Philosophy of Social Market Economy: Michel Foucault’s Analysis of Ordoliberalism," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 138(2), pages 157-184.
    2. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    3. Callum Williams, 2015. "Famine: Adam Smith and Foucauldian Political Economy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(2), pages 171-190, May.
    4. Kirk Willis, 1979. "The Role in Parliament of the Economic Ideas of Adam Smith, 1776–1800," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 505-544, Winter.
    5. Nils Goldschmidt & Hermann Rauchenschwandtner, 2018. "The Philosophy of Social Market Economy: Michel Foucault´s Analysis of Ordoliberalism," Journal of Contextual Economics (JCE) – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 138(2), pages 157-184.
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