The practice of care of self through the agency-performance association in the regime of human capital discourse

Abstract

From the perspective of neoliberal governmentality, this study sets out to investigate the linear relation from agency to performance through a survey of junior-high-school teachers’ (n = 2,319) attitudes toward performance management. While this linear relationship is documented, the best model of the SEM analysis shows that intermediates positively mediate this linkage. It also distinguishes a theoretical path for the six factors, commencing from self-consciousness, technologies of agency, human capital, international competitiveness, to responsible subjects and finally technologies of performance. Unlike the Western literature, self-discipline serves as the primary element calibrating respondents’ perceptions of performativity. As this unique feature, resulting from Chinese culture, objectifies teachers’ subjectivities, self-discipline is embedded within the agency-performance association carrying out the mission of human capital discourse.