Multimodal strategies of emotional governance: a critical analysis of ‘nudge’ tactics in health policy

Mulderrig, Jane

doi:10.1080/17405904.2017.1382381

Cited by 36 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This metasynthesis is based on empirical studies, resulting in the automatic exclusion of theoretical articles on nudging. However, nudging techniques and their relation to behavior change in public health lifestyle interventions need to be understood in the broader context of behavioral economics and the political, cultural, and social contexts in which nudging occurs (Leggett, 2014; Mulderrig, 2018, 2019). Therefore, it would be valuable in future studies to extend the critical discussion of the findings of this metasynthesis in relation to public health discourses and public policies, as well as discussions of the ethical challenges posed by nudging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, researchers from fields such as the political sciences and critical public health have criticized the soft-governance techniques in nudges that rely on individualized, behavioristic, and paternalistic interventions to correct “unhealthy behaviors” while ignoring the role of social context as well as cultural and material inequalities (Mulderrig, 2019; Wilkins, 2013). Mulderrig (2018), for example, has characterized nudging as a technique of biopolitical governance (Foucault, 2007) whose aim is to produce self-regulating citizens with health behaviors that comply with predetermined health norms, potentially establishing a disjuncture between individuals’ social values and situations, and public policy.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nudging in Public Health Lifestyle Interventions: A Systematic Literature Review and Metasynthesis

et al. 2020

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Nudging is increasingly used in public health interventions in Western societies to produced health-promoting behavior changes; however, there is lack of clarity as to what constitutes a nudge, scant knowledge of the effectiveness of nudging techniques in public health lifestyle interventions and a number of ethical and value-based concerns. The aim of this review is to address these research lacunae and identify the characteristics of nudges in empirical research on public health interventions intended to induce healthy lifestyle changes, including whether they are effective. We conducted systematic searches for relevant articles published between January 2008 and April 2019 in three databases, PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO, and combined this with a metasynthesis to construct interpretative explanations. A total of 66 original studies met the inclusion criteria. The findings of the systematic review showed that most nudging interventions involved diet/nutrition, most were carried out as single experiments, and the majority had the intended effects. Specific nudging techniques were identified with respect to the broader nudging categories of accessibility, presentation, using messages and pictures, technology-supported information, financial incentives, affecting the senses, and cognitive loading; several studies included more than one nudging technique. Although many nudging techniques had the intended effects, it is unclear whether they would work outside the study setting. The synthesis revealed that the studies lacked critical reflection on the assumptions about health that were implicit in nudging interventions, the cultural acceptability of nudges, the context-free assumptions of nudging theory, and the implications of these aspects for the public health context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Nudging in Public Health Lifestyle Interventions: A Systematic Literature Review and Metasynthesis

et al. 2020

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“…Examples of scholars who both critically and thoroughly empirically evaluate the behavioural state's legitimacy exist but are rare (e.g. Lepenies & Malecka 2018;Mulderrig 2018). Also, they seem to only reach a small, and exclusively academic audience.…”

Section: Critical-reflexive and Interdisciplinary Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inside the behavioural state

Feitsma¹

2020

Bestuurskunde

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1.1 Initiation into the behavioural state The emerging behavioural state: promise, pressure or phantom? How confident is present-day government? Not too confident, it would seem. Solving public problems is generally seen as an arduous challenge. Our late modern society doesn't lend itself to be 'engineered'. It has only become more uncertain, complex, and 'liquid' (Bauman 1999) than before (e.g. Beck 1992; Giddens 1998). This acknowledgement of complexity reflects how today's policymakers think, 'see' and act. They commonly acknowledge that some policy issues have become 'wicked' (Head 2008): so convoluted and contested-both substantively and procedurally, empirically and normatively-that they can at best be 'tamed'. Also, today's policymakers-part of the New Public Governance paradigm-generally realize that they are heavily dependent on other societal actors to get things done and that forging strong and unified public-private networks is far from easy. So they buckle up, strengthen their tolerance for uncertainty and nonperformance, and confess that public problem-solving simply isn't easy. And yet, in the past two decades a policy trend has emerged that goes in the opposite direction of a modest state. This trend has given birth to a type of state that seems all too confident about its ability to shape society. This confidence is drawn from the opportunities discovered by recent advances in the behavioural sciences. A body of 'behavioural insights' (e.g. Dolan et al. 2010; OECD 2017; Lourenço et al. 2016) has developed rapidly, showing how humans often don't make decisions in wholly rational, but often more automatic ways. These insights have given rise to an unorthodox policy style, which subtly intervenes in the everyday spaces of society based on rigorous behavioural analyses and experiments (e.g.

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“…Such processes derive from commercial branding practices, where brand equity – the value of a brand as constituted by the subjective meanings and socio‐emotional functions that the brand has or fulfils for consumers – is boosted through strategic moves that successfully cultivate attachments around the brand (Kapferer, 2008). As such, neoliberalized government communication involves stimulating, appropriating and mobilizing citizen‐consumer affect to generate support for and ownership of government policies and programmes, as well as to spur citizen action and shape subjectivities amenable to the government agenda (Mulderrig, 2018; Pedwell, 2014).…”

Section: Neoliberalized Political Engagement and Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neoliberal recontextualizations and legitimations in a post‐Confucian state

2020

World Englishes

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While neoliberal ethos has seen a consistent spread and reterritorialization beyond its Anglo-American roots, the specific inflections of neoliberalism and its discourse have had to be recontextualized to fit with context-specific values and structures of government/governance. Adopting a critical discourse-analytic approach, this paper looks at the case of Singapore to probe the discursive moves and tropes deployed to communicate and legitimate a neoliberal-oriented, authoritarian governance in a wealthy society marked by a high level of inequality. It shows how Singapore's 'Asian' sociopolitical context and its post-Confucian heritage are amenable to a strategic discursive melding of a more conventional self-interested, neoliberal individualism with a more locally-situated traditionalist collective/communitarian ethos, with the latter functioning as a discursive-moralizing trope to encourage acquiescence to a market-fundamentalist agenda for 'the greater/common good' .

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Multimodal strategies of emotional governance: a critical analysis of ‘nudge’ tactics in health policy

Cited by 36 publications

References 42 publications

Nudging in Public Health Lifestyle Interventions: A Systematic Literature Review and Metasynthesis

Nudging in Public Health Lifestyle Interventions: A Systematic Literature Review and Metasynthesis

Inside the behavioural state

Neoliberal recontextualizations and legitimations in a post‐Confucian state

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