On the will to ignorance in bureaucracy

Drawing on narrative interviews with psychiatrists and health analysts in Britain, the article provides an analysis of debates over the safety of SSRI antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat. The focus of the article is on what I describe, drawing on Foucault, Nietzsche, Niklas Luhmann and Michael Power, as a 'will to ignorance' within regulatory bureaucracies which works to circumvent a regulator's ability to carry out its explicit aims and goals. After a description of the regulatory processes that have influenced the efforts of patients and practitioners to reach conclusions on the risks and benefits of antidepressants, I conclude by suggesting that the article's analysis of the regulation of SSRIs carries theoretical insights for the study of regulation and bureaucracy in general.