Research On Aesthetic Governmentality Thought Of Tony Bennett

This article is dedicated to provide a new perspective and paradigm for modern social governance through the overall exploration of the formation of Tony Bennett’s aesthetic governance thought.Bennett,as a representative scholar of Western Marxist theoretical research and cultural research,enriched the aesthetic research of contemporary society from the multiple perspectives of sociology and anthropology.Combined with the current situation of contemporary governance research,Bennett creatively put forward the viewpoint of aesthetic governance with aesthetics as the technology of shaping the subject as the core.In the criticism tradition of Western Marxism aesthetics,Bennett found the contradiction of aesthetic logic and idealism tendency.Therefore,starting from the most profound social and historical dimension of Marxist philosophy,taking aesthetic discourse as the starting point,he reconstructed and expanded the vision of Marxist aesthetic research through the discussion of the social function of art and aesthetics.On the one hand,Bennett fully absorbed post Marxist thought and Foucault’s views on discourse,governmentality and self technology.Through the investigation of the relationship between the birth of aesthetics and the needs of modern national governance,Bennett explored the inseparable close relationship between aesthetics and governance,so as to organically combine aesthetics and governance,The theory of aesthetic governance has been established.On the other hand,Bennett inherited and developed Bourdieu’s theory and research paradigm.The rewriting of Bourdieu’s theory has become an important dimension of his aesthetic governance theory.Class,field,habit and capital constitute the key concepts of Bennett’s aesthetic governance theory.Taking the aesthetic governance space as the unit,Bennett analyzed the theoretical possibility and feasibility of a series of self technological realization in aesthetic governance,such as self-examination,self-management and self shaping.Then Bennett introduced cultural policy into cultural research,finding an effective parallel path for the theoretical and practical research of contemporary aesthetic governance.Cultural policy can effectively guide and organize the specific process of contemporary aesthetic governance,reorganize the culture with aesthetic significance in a specific time and space through the policy,and make the cultural resources take effect in a specific time and space with the authoritative discourse power of intellectuals with social influence.Moreover,Bennett takes specific aesthetic governance spaces such as contemporary schools,museums and art galleries as examples to deeply analyze the realistic background and demands of the times.In the process of deconstructing the specific aesthetic space,Bennett deeply discusses the internal logic and value orientation of aesthetic governance,and shows the dynamic structure of contemporary aesthetic governance.With the deepening of cultural globalization,Bennett’s aesthetic governance thought provides a valuable theory for walking out of the dilemma of contemporary cultural research and coping with the crisis of contemporary social governance.The realistic concern shown by his research is of great significance to the reform of the relationship between contemporary academia and reality.As for the current situation of contemporary China’s governance,how to graft Bennett’s aesthetic governance thought into China’s governance tradition and make his thought play a positive role in China’s governance context is a topic worthy of attention in China’s governance research.