Mon corps, mon capital. La bioéconomie et les nouvelles frontières du corps humain

Abstract

In a world tainted by the cult of perfect health and the biomedicalization of identity, the value attributed to individual life appears to come increasingly from individuals’ capacity to maintain— and even enhance—their biological “capital.” The valorization of “life itself” in the bioeconomy fosters a representation of the body as capital. Stemming from the notion of human capital developed by Gary Becker, the conception of the body as capital is dissociable from the bioeconomy, the ultimate stage of globalized capitalism. Not only does the bioeconomy model dictate all neoliberal politics in innovation and research implemented since the early 1980s, it is redefining the very foundations of citizenship. Maintaining and extending health is therefore seen as an investment that increases individuals’ social “value.” This concept of the body as capital is evident in the development of private umbilical cord blood stem cell banks that encourage parents to invest in their children’s biological capital. It also shows up in the phenomenon of medical tourism. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the concept of body capital via two phenomena: the development of private cord blood banks, medical tourism, and translational medicine.In a world tainted by the cult of perfect health and the biomedicalization of identity, the value attributed to individual life appears to come increasingly from individuals’ capacity to maintain— and even enhance—their biological “capital.” The valorization of “life itself” in the bioeconomy fosters a representation of the body as capital. Stemming from the notion of human capital developed by Gary Becker, the conception of the body as capital is dissociable from the bioeconomy, the ultimate stage of globalized capitalism. Not only does the bioeconomy model dictate all neoliberal politics in innovation and research implemented since the early 1980s, it is redefining the very foundations of citizenship. Maintaining and extending health is therefore seen as an investment that increases individuals’ social “value.” This concept of the body as capital is evident in the development of private umbilical cord blood stem cell banks that encourage parents to invest in their children’s biological capital. It also shows up in the phenomenon of medical tourism. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the concept of body capital via two phenomena: the development of private cord blood banks, medical tourism, and translational medicine.In a world tainted by the cult of perfect health and the biomedicalization of identity, the value attributed to individual life appears to come increasingly from individuals’ capacity to maintain— and even enhance—their biological “capital.” The valorization of “life itself” in the bioeconomy fosters a representation of the body as capital. Stemming from the notion of human capital developed by Gary Becker, the conception of the body as capital is dissociable from the bioeconomy, the ultimate stage of globalized capitalism. Not only does the bioeconomy model dictate all neoliberal politics in innovation and research implemented since the early 1980s, it is redefining the very foundations of citizenship. Maintaining and extending health is therefore seen as an investment that increases individuals’ social “value.” This concept of the body as capital is evident in the development of private umbilical cord blood stem cell banks that encourage parents to invest in their children’s biological capital. It also shows up in the phenomenon of medical tourism. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the concept of body capital via two phenomena: the development of private cord blood banks, medical tourism, and translational medicine.