Neoliberalism is often associated with a “laissez faire” attitude: neoliberals are standardly described as recommending a withdrawal of political power in favour of the free market. But this picture of neoliberalism is misleading: neoliberalism, in fact, sees a truly competitive market as an artificial construction, that must be brought into being through a systematic deployment of power.
This module examines neoliberalism as a way of exercising, rather than limiting, power. We will not look at neoliberalism as an economic theory, but as a specific way of governing and shaping society. We will consider the theoretical underpinnings of this kind of political intervention, and analyse the specific policies neoliberals advocate, focusing on strategic sectors such as higher education, healthcare, criminal justice and genetic governance.
From the methodological point of view, the module will examine neoliberal policy-making from the standpoint of discourse analysis: instead of seeing neoliberal theories as descriptions of independently given realities, and then seeing neoliberal policies as an application of those theories to reality, we will look at the entities postulated in these theories as constituted by discourse, and understand this discursive constitution as shaped from the very outset by certain governmental concerns.
This module examines neoliberalism as a way of exercising, rather than limiting, power. We will not look at neoliberalism as an economic theory, but as a specific way of governing and shaping society. We will consider the theoretical underpinnings of this kind of political intervention, and analyse the specific policies neoliberals advocate, focusing on strategic sectors such as higher education, healthcare, criminal justice and genetic governance.
From the methodological point of view, the module will examine neoliberal policy-making from the standpoint of discourse analysis: instead of seeing neoliberal theories as descriptions of independently given realities, and then seeing neoliberal policies as an application of those theories to reality, we will look at the entities postulated in these theories as constituted by discourse, and understand this discursive constitution as shaped from the very outset by certain governmental concerns.