Foucault’s Bio-Power of State: A Comparative Analysis between Brave New World and the Real Capitalist World
Abstract
The present study explores how Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) presents a State controlled systematic manipulation and psychological conditioning of individuals through Hypnopaedia and Soma. This paper adopts a comparative analysis, comparing the aforementioned means of mass conditioning used in the novel with the techniques used by the real-world capitalist states. It further delves into the nature of physical and mental manipulation of mass subjects in fiction compared with the reality. The analysis is conducted in lieu of Foucauldian notion of biopower, which characterizes the exertion of political power over populations, effectively reducing them to mere instruments of social control. The findings reveal that the rapid development and scientific progress observed in the modern world has made it possible for the states to use the fictional means of mass conditioning in the real world. The subconscious conditioning through mass media and the pervasive use of psychotropics are the real-world manifestations of Huxley’s prophecies. Hence, it implies a trajectory towards the dystopia that he has predicted in his dystopian science fiction novel Brave New World.
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