Neoliberalism, work and subjectivity : towards a more complex account

Valerie Walkerdine, Peter Bansel

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    The aim of this chapter is to understand the making of the neoliberal subject in the context of global transformations in the workplace, in the meaning of work, and in the nature of identity projects. These changes are part and parcel of wider social and cultural shifts which have important and profound consequences both for our understanding of subjectivity and the world of work. In this chapter we will review major approaches to subjectivity and identity transformation under neoliberalism and globalization and discuss these in the light of research in two countries: Wales and Australia. Our research allows us to critically reflect upon the efficacy of sociological arguments about the ‘subject’ of neoliberalism and to point to the need for a more nuanced style of analysis which takes time and space seriously. Though understood as a regulatory regime, neoliberalism is not positioned in this chapter as hegemonic or deterministic, but rather as located in networks of emergent and intersecting conditions of possibility. We emphasize that there is no singular, stable ‘neoliberalism’ but rather a set of dispersed discourses, positions and practices inflected by the specificity of the different contexts in which it emerges. It is something of this specificity and its effects for subjectivity and identity that we are attempting to articulate.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Sage Handbook of Identities
    EditorsMargaret Wetherell, Chandra Talpade Mohanty
    Place of PublicationU.S.
    PublisherSage
    Pages492-507
    Number of pages16
    ISBN (Electronic)9781446200889
    ISBN (Print)9781412934114
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

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