Description
Book SynopsisWhat kind of thing is 'neoliberalism'? This collection of essays explores a range of possible answers to this question, arguing that neoliberalism is a complex, but specifiable and analysable phenomenon: a discursive formation, an ideology, a governmental programme, a hegemonic project, an assemblage of ideas, techniques and technologies, and what Deleuze and Guattari call an 'abstract machine'.Following an introductory essay by Jeremy Gilbert which contextualises the meaning and significance of neoliberalism, the collection considers the genesis, persistence and polyvalency of the concept across a range of cultural sites and discursive genres from political philosophy to pornography, from economics to photographic technology. Chapters examine the intersection of neoliberal ideology and political practice with experiences of race, gender, sexuality and class; with grand politics, technical innovation and hard economics.This book is essential reading for anyone interesting in the contemporary cultural climate, and the impact of the pervasive concept of neoliberalism on society in the present.
Trade Review'This is the one of the very best explorations of neo-liberalism, and unique in that it approaches neoliberalism through its cultural articulations and implications. Em-bracing the complexity of neoliberalism and the diversity of efforts to comprehend it, the essays in the volume construct a rich vision of the ways neoliberalism is embodied, lived and resisted across the full range of cultural life. Anyone interested in neoliberalism should put this at the top of their reading list.' (Professor Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill)
Table of ContentsContents: What kind of thing is 'neoliberalism'? Jeremy Gilbert1. '... We got to get over before we go under ...' Fragments for a history of black vernacular neoliberalism, Paul Gilroy2. Foucault's 'critique' of neoliberalism, Rawls and the genealogy of public reason, Paul Patton3. Meritocracy as plutocracy: the marketising of 'equality' under neoliberalism, Jo Littler4. Thought bubble: neoliberalism and the politics of knowledge, Neal Curtis5. Capitalist realism and neoliberal hegemony: a dialogue, Mark Fisher and Jeremy Gilbert6. Beyond the entrepreneurial voyeur? Sex, porn and cultural politics, Stephen Maddison7. Feminism, the family and the new 'mediated' maternalism, Angela McRobbie8. Complexity as capture - neoliberalism and the loop of drive, Jodi Dean9. Neoliberal Britain's austerity foodscape: home economics, veg patch capitalism and culinary temporality, Lucy Potter and Claire Westall10. 'Hit your educable public right in the supermarket where they live': risk and failure in the work of William Gaddis, Nicky Marsh11. ATMs, tele-prompters and photo-booths: a short history of neoliberal optics, Mark Hayward
