Towards a cognitive-sociological theory of subjectivity and habitus formation in neoliberal societies

Abstract

Disconcerting findings from sociological research suggest that Western youth are developing subjectivities that reflect neoliberal discursive formations of self-interestedness, competitiveness, and materialism. However, propositions about 1) the cognitive-affective mechanisms that explain how youth acquire and reproduce neoliberal ideology, or 2) the dispositions and behaviours that typify a neoliberal subject, remain vague. Therefore, in this article I provide a novel conceptualisation of these two psychosocial facets that can help advance understandings and investigations of the emerging modes and societal consequences of neoliberal subjectification. Specifically, I review major theoretical tenets from the respective literatures on neurocognitive development, social cognition, neoliberalism, and neoliberal hegemony. I then synthesise these tenets within a modified habitus formulation to sketch a testable cognitive-sociological model for explaining and exploring some of the distinct dispositional values, attitudes, and practices that youth raised in societies with institutionally and culturally prevalent neoliberal norms and discourses may potentially develop and enact.

Precarity, gender and care in the neoliberal academy

“…Neoliberal capitalism is the dominant political–economic ideology of our time (Harvey, ). Premised on the primacy of the market in the organization of economic, and political and social, life, while it has been contested, it has retained cognitive hegemony (Leyva, ). One of the ways in which neoliberalism has achieved hegemony is through the institutionalization of market values and norms not only in private, but also in public sector organizations.…”

Connecting sleep, the neurocognitive memory system, and Bourdieu's habitus concept: Is sleep a generative force of the habitus?

“…An increasing body of works relates the habitus concept to neuroscientific and psychological research (e.g., Kastl, 2004, 2016; Leyva, 2019; Lizardo, 2009; Räsänen & Kauppinen, 2020; Reay, 2015; Schatzki, 1997). Albeit showing interesting results, only few works have addressed the relationship of Bourdieu's habitus concept and the neuropsychological memory system (Kastl, 2004, 2016; Lizardo, 2009), and none has analyzed habitus and sleep.…”

Affective Equality and Social Justice

“…Lacking a structural analysis, it also underestimates the power of market-led state institutions in framing relations of recognition and care (Garrett, 2010). The ways in which capitalist economic systems not only condition power, but also frame consciousness and commitment to social (in)justice, through advertising, social media, and living in and through a market-led society (Sennett 1998;Leyva 2018), is not addressed thereby presenting a very idealized and structurally detached form of recognition and subjectification. While Honneth's work is rightly respected in terms of providing a profound understanding recognition, it does not fully recognize the importance of love, care and solidarity as interconnected affective relational systems that intersect deeply with economic, political and cultural relations, especially as these are framed within legal and political institutions.…”