Regenerative Capacities: New Materialisms, Inheritance, and Biopolitical Technologies in Education Policy

Inheritance and social reproduction have been widely theorized and studied concepts in the social sciences. In theories of social reproduction a focus on social position and identity is assumed; a focus on moving from one position to another at the cost of overlooking the rich, and arguably more important, movement, process, and flow in between. Turning toward new materialisms for theoretical insight, this article points toward an alternative post-humanist perspective. Leaning on Massumi (2002) and Puar (2007), the author asserts that expanding the analytical focus to include the movement and process of biopolitical capacity will further sharpen the (new) materialist analysis of force and power relations, what Puar refers to as regenerative capacities. It is through the employment and performative force of biopolitical technologies in education policy, the author concludes, that enables the surveilling, managing, and demarcating of regenerative capacities that constrain the movement, process, and potentialities for, and of, social change.