Governmentality and public policy: an alternative study of the Prospera program

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the critical analysis of public policies through the analytical tools proposed by Michel Foucault in his studies of governmentality. First, it proposes a systematization of the governmentality approach that addresses the need to establish critical-constructive dialogues with the dominant logic of public policy. The approach is then used to study the Prospera program. This allows the alternative analysis of one of the most studied social programs in Mexico, reinterpreting its functioning and identifying the way in which it manages power in the beneficiary population.