On the subject of neoliberalism: Rethinking resistance in the critique of neoliberal rationality

Cornelissen, Lars

doi:10.1111/1467-8675.12349

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Theoretical implications include the need for more conceptual and analytic precision, when labeling subjects or affects as "neoliberal." Finally, political implications include the importance of becoming more alert to the political potential of affective resistance and refusal of neoliberalism in academia (see Cornelissen, 2018). There are also policy implications in being more careful when invoking the notions of "neoliberal subject" and "neoliberal affects" in academia, because conceptual nuance enriches academics' capacity to (re)imagine practices of contestation against neoliberalism in academia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…My argument in this paper has crucial methodological, theoretical, and political implications for researching and theorizing affective subjectivation in “neoliberal academia” without invoking the monolithic notion of a “neoliberal subject.” Methodological implications include, for example, the need for approaches based on empiricism, that is, methodologies (e.g., ethnographies) that are sensitive to institutional specificities and explore the affective complexities involved in the production of psychic and embodied subjectivities, not just a loose analysis of stories that narrate how subjects are being governed in universities. Theoretical implications include the need for more conceptual and analytic precision, when labeling subjects or affects as “neoliberal.” Finally, political implications include the importance of becoming more alert to the political potential of affective resistance and refusal of neoliberalism in academia (see Cornelissen, 2018). There are also policy implications in being more careful when invoking the notions of “neoliberal subject” and “neoliberal affects” in academia, because conceptual nuance enriches academics’ capacity to (re)imagine practices of contestation against neoliberalism in academia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Neoliberal subjects” and “Neoliberal affects” in academia: Methodological, theoretical and political implications

Zembylas

2022

Policy Futures in Education

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This paper suggests that scholarship on the affective life of neoliberalism in academia needs to exercise more caution when it invokes the notions of “neoliberal subjects” and “neoliberal affects.” It is argued that this scholarship needs to expand its conceptual and theoretical vocabulary to recognize the multiplicities of new injunctions and prohibitions on how academics and students feel in different academic contexts in relation to neoliberalism(s). The paper surveys representative studies in higher education that show how affective subjectivation takes place in neoliberal academia to unravel the underlying presuppositions made about neoliberal subjects. Based on this survey, it is suggested that there are methodological, theoretical, and political reasons to avoid invoking a monolithic notion of “neoliberal subjects” in academia; rather, it is crucial to make more modest claims that are sensitive to the nuances of particular neoliberalisms and the real conditions for the formation of affects in particular academic contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Neoliberal subjects” and “Neoliberal affects” in academia: Methodological, theoretical and political implications

Zembylas

2022

Policy Futures in Education

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“…Interestingly, this strategy actually aligns with the mature work of Foucault, for whom scholarship should seek to disrupt that which is taken for granted. Drawing on this Foucaultian legacy, Cornelissen (2018, p. 144) convincingly argues that ‘resistance should be given a more prominent analytical role in the critique of neoliberalism’, adding, ‘resistance is not secondary to the elaboration of alternatives; rather, moments of refusal must guide the formulation of alternative analyses’. Cornelissen concludes, ‘what is at stake politically is our capacity to imagine practices or resistance to neoliberalism and to take seriously those modalities of resistance that already exist’.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are you a neoliberal subject? On the uses and abuses of a concept

Watts

2021

European Journal of Social Theory

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A spate of social scientific literature gives the impression that societies in the twenty-first century are overrun with ‘neoliberal subjects’. But what does it actually mean to be a neoliberal subject? And in what ways does this concept relate to ‘neoliberalism’, more generally? In this article, I distinguish between four common ways of thinking about ‘neoliberalism’: (1) as a set of economic policies, (2) as a hegemonic ideological project, (3) as a political rationality and form of governmentality and (4) as a specific type of embodied subjectivity. I argue that while neoliberalisms (1), (2) and (3) potentially hold clear conceptual connections to one another – notwithstanding the quite real tensions between them – their relationship to neoliberalism (4) is often (although not always) tenuous at best. That is, the evidence routinely offered to demonstrate the existence of neoliberalism (4) bears almost no necessary relationship to neoliberalisms (1), (2) or (3). I conclude that, for both academic and political reasons, scholars should be more careful when invoking the monolithic notion of a ‘neoliberal subject’.

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“…The process Brown attempts to reconstruct here is less a direct attack on democracy than it is a slow hollowing out of its essential grounds or conditions (Cornelissen, 2018). The individual aspects involved are therefore myriad and prone to transmutation.…”

Section: Democracy Imperilledmentioning

confidence: 97%

Critical theory and decolonial possibility in the neoliberal moment

Elliott

2019

IJSE

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider how practices of critical theorising directed towards present dilemmas of neoliberalisation might inadvertently participate in the reproduction of colonial power. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a critical theoretical approach, focussing on Wendy Brown’s recent work on neoliberalism in particular. Findings The paper argues that an alignment with colonial power is evident at a methodological level in Brown’s critique of neoliberalism and that this offers indication of how critical theorising in general might begin to reorient itself in ways that better ally it with the creation/promotion of decolonial possibility in contemporary contexts. Originality/value The paper makes original contribution to understanding of how western critical theorising actively participates in the reproduction of colonial power. Its value lies partly in demonstrating how this occurs in Brown’s specific case, and partly in suggesting correctives of more general applicability.

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On the subject of neoliberalism: Rethinking resistance in the critique of neoliberal rationality

Cited by 10 publications

References 30 publications

“Neoliberal subjects” and “Neoliberal affects” in academia: Methodological, theoretical and political implications

“Neoliberal subjects” and “Neoliberal affects” in academia: Methodological, theoretical and political implications

Are you a neoliberal subject? On the uses and abuses of a concept

Critical theory and decolonial possibility in the neoliberal moment

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