Financialization of public policies, autopsy of control technologies in the Orpea scandal

This article examines how financialization affects the way public health missions are conceived and implemented. In particular, it deals with the role played by control technologies in this process. In order to conduct our investigation, we analyze the Orpea scandal using the notion of governmentality (Foucault, 1994, 2008) and, more specifically, the concepts of rationalities, programs, and technologies developed by Rose and Miller (1992, 2010). An analysis of control technologies at Orpea and the public authorities shows that the rationality corresponding to providing good care for dependent older adults was financialized and problematized by the pursuit of efficiency. This article contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it shows that the financialization of an organization does not hinge solely on financial technologies but can also be based on nonfinancial technologies. Second, it argues that public policies not only contribute to financialization but are themselves financialized, since the rationalities underpinning them are financialized. Hence, this article reports not only on financialization by public policies but also on the financialization of public policies.