Rationalising Bt Technology: Creating a Biopolitical Space Around Bt Cotton

Abstract

Sociologists have long recognised rationalisation as a process through which a universally applicable technical code crystallises as technological rationality of a modern society. This article challenges such essentialist theories that offer deter-ministic and universal generalisations about such abstract categories as technical rationality. Rather it suggests that technical rationality in itself is constructed by a network of actors in a specific context. This article analyses the historical moment of the introduction of Bt cotton in India, in 2002, in order to explore how the technical rationality guiding the introduction of Bt technology was itself constructed by a network of neoliberal actors. In doing so, the article reveals the political economy of this technology at both the discursive and institutional levels. Here, rationalisation is defined as a biopolitical process whereby a host of neoliberal actors used discursive framings and institutional strategies in order to create a hospitable environment for an imported Bt technology. The article argues that a hegemonic capitalist rationale guided the adoption of Bt cotton through the 2002 policy decision. The construction of this context-specific rationale led to the emergence of a global agbiotech industry at the local level, which, in turn, further strengthened the state-biotechnology-market nexus.