The Autobiographies of Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez: Political Marketing and Management Ethos

Abstract

The autobiographical genre is particularly suitable for interpreting certain relevant tendencies in the reconfiguration of contemporary subjectivity. It showcases how a subject becomes an object for themself, that is, it composes a regime of subjectification. This paper will focus on the autobiographies of Mariano Rajoy (En confianza. Mi vida y mi proyecto de cambio para España, 2011; Una España mejor, 2019) and Pedro Sánchez (Manual de resistencia (2019)). On the one hand, the aim will be to determine to what extent political marketing conditions their life stories and elevates themselves admirably. On the other hand, the goal is also to examine how this model responds to a subjectivizing norm dominated by performance and competitiveness. This norm aligns with the figure of the “entrepreneur of the self” promoted by neoliberal governability.