Necropolitics
& The Aesthetics of Power
Necropolitics is a term coined and explored in depth by philosopher Achille Mbembe to describe how political and social power determines not only who is allowed to live but who must die—or more insidiously, who is forced to exist in a liminal state between life and death.
At its core, necropolitics interrogates how modern forms of governance and control create hierarchies of human value. It asks: Whose lives are grievable? Whose suffering is rendered invisible? Whose deaths are normalised, even expected? It draws particular attention to the racial, economic, and geopolitical structures that render certain populations disposable, unworthy of protection, care, or empathy.
This logic of disposability also permeates the domain of aesthetics—especially in the construction and enforcement of beauty standards. While often dismissed as a matter of personal taste or cultural preference, beauty is, in fact, deeply political. When examined through the lens of necropolitics, beauty standards emerge as a mechanism of exclusion—a tool by which certain bodies are valorised while others are devalued, erased, or rendered abject.
Beauty, then, is not just an aesthetic value; it is a site of political power. It reinforces hierarchies of worth that shape who is protected and who is abandoned. To be outside the bounds of normative beauty is to be marginalised not only socially but materially, it is to be rendered less deserving of life itself.
The necropolitical implications of beauty are especially apparent when we consider who receives medical attention, who is represented in media, who is believed, desired, loved, and mourned. These are not neutral patterns; they reflect systemic ideologies that conflate beauty with value and invisibility with disposability.
Understanding beauty standards through a necropolitical lens challenges us to see them not as harmless cultural artifacts, but as tools of discipline and domination. They are part of a broader system that manages life and death—not only in the biological sense but in the social sense of who is allowed to flourish and who is condemned to survive.
The more one conforms to dominant beauty ideals, the more likely one is to be granted visibility, care, and access to life-sustaining resources—whether in the form of healthcare, employment, social mobility, or basic dignity. Those deemed "undesirable" are often denied these things. Their suffering is normalised, their exclusion is justified, and their deaths are rendered statistically predictable