THE NEOLIBERAL RATIONALITY AND BIOPOLITICS’S FORM OF GOVERNMENT:

the process of uberization of work conditions in cities in the age of surveillance capitalism

Abstract

Based on Michel Foucault’s theories about neoliberal rationality and the management of biopolitics found mainly in The Birth of Biopolitics (2008a) and Security, Territory, Population (2008b), we aim, with this article: i) to establish a definition of neoliberal rationality and biopolitics; ii) to outline the developments of these concepts of in present days, the age of surveillance capitalism; iii) to analyze the establishing of these concepts through the process of uberization of work conditions in cities and through technopolitics. With this article, we intend to contribute to Foucaultian discursive with an analysis of a statement from Paulo Galo, the leader of the Breque dos Apps (the Apps’ Strike) movement (2020), interviewed by Gama Magazine (2021), in which he comments current work conditions. The article is based on Michel Foucault's archeogenealogical method in order to demonstrate, in Galo’s words, the reconfiguration of capitalism added to neoliberal rationality and the control of bodies through new technologies and algorithms, focusing on the risks and losses of rights for the working classes.