Brave newsubject

Doping as a political narrative and its effects on psychic health

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the dynamics of neoliberal rationality and its production of neosubjects, taking the figure of doping as the guiding thread and problematized from two perspectives: the structure of generalized competition itself, which doped subjectivities around a desire for happiness and self-realization, as well as the drug culture itself, which intensifies the use of drugs, both to improve performances and to alleviate feelings of depression and existential distress. Through a parallel with literature, we articulate Aldous Huxley's dystopian narrative in “Brave New World” with the new subjectivity factory of the contemporary world that, aligned with the dictates of neoliberal rationality, produces a doped society and without narrativities.