“Is your brain in danger of overheating?”: neurobiologizing the labouring subject in cognitive capitalism

• Published in: BioSocieties Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 449 - 480
• Main Authors: Okkonen, Venla, Korhonen, Maija
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.09.2025; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Brain; Brain research; Capitalism; Cognition; Culture; Discourse; Electronic publishing; Information dissemination; Knowledge; Life; Media coverage; Medical diagnosis; Neurosciences; Optimization; Organizational behavior; Original Article; Social Sciences; Subjectivity; Work; Workers; Working hours; Scandinavia; Finland; Problematization; Media analysis; Brain culture; Workplace well-being; Cognitive capitalism
• ISSN: 1745-8552; 1745-8560
• DOI: 10.1057/s41292-025-00348-3

Contemporary work is based on harnessing the cognitive resources of workers. Conversely, knowledge of the brain is applied to understand and solve issues of this kind of work. In this article, we inquire about how brain culture manifests in the public discussion of working life in Finland. How are the problems of working life, along with their solutions and the labouring subject, constructed, when knowledge of the brain is applied to work? Based on the analysis of 45 texts published online, we suggest that neurobiologization of the labouring subject emerges from the identified mismatch between the human brain and contemporary work. Neurobiologizing the labouring subject constructs working subjectivity in a way that renders problematic one’s relationship to work and requires the constant effort of protection and optimization. Brain discourse, as applied to working life, recognizes the problematic structural features of contemporary work such as its diffusion outside of the working hours. The texts analysed here combine this problem diagnosis with normative claims about moral principles of a responsible neurobiologized labouring subject. Brain discourse functions as a way to discuss and manage complex issues of working life on a level of individual and organizational behaviour grounded on purported neutral expertise.