Abstract

Current policy discourse define guidance as a key tool to enhance individual self-realization while pursuing collective social objectives (economic growth, reduction of drop-out rate, social inclusion). Relying on Foucault's concept of governmentality, critical research has long destabilized this mainstream narrative by stressing that guidance polices constitute a bio-political government technology through which the political ambition to govern is realized by shaping citizens' desires and ambitions. Aim of this article is to provide an in-depth empiric analysis of how government practices unfold within a concrete guidance setting. Based on ethnographic data, the essay focus on guidance practices addressing 13-14 years' old students moving from a comprehensive to a tracked educational level in Italy. Combining a governmental analysis with the insights provided by a sociomaterial perspective, a particular emphasis is given to the role played guidance artefacts. These artefacts, it is argued, enable indeed peculiar technologies of the self that are key to involve individual in practices of self-government.