Language and Subjectivity in Neoliberalism

This chapter establishes the theoretical and conceptual basis for the book by first defining neoliberalism, reviewing the various challenges that have emerged in addressing the complex and multifaceted nature of neoliberalism. It then provides an overview of the theoretical frameworks for understanding neoliberalism and how they might be adopted for the study of language and subjectivity. It contrasts Marxist and Foucauldian approaches to neoliberalism, proposing a synthesis in which Foucault’s insights are used to clarify how the neoliberal shaping of subjectivities works to obscure class-based inequalities and to rationalize increasing precarity of life under intensifying capitalism and the global economy. Finally, the chapter considers how such processes of subjectivity might be traced through theoretical and analytic constructs from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, especially through the analysis of metapragmatic discourse.