Entrepreneurship became a generalized ideal pervading personal identity and relationships

Evidence

The fact that somatic selfhood can be sliced, diced, and reshuffled in such dramatic fashion in a relatively short time frame only goes to show that once we submit to a regime of entrepreneurship of the self, then the Archimedean fulcrum of personhood starts to slip rather perilously. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 418 (#expands, via linked claim)

Neoliberalism contains a discursively embedded ideal subject. In an uncertain economic climate, successful workers must be active, entrepreneurial risk-takers. Given corporate deregulation and the de-emphasis on government-provided social services, neoliberal citizens should be self-sufficient and responsible. The rapid pace of information technology and global labor requires a flexible workforce that learns quickly. An effective neoliberal subject attends to fashions, is focused on self-improvement, and purchases goods and ser vices to achieve “self-realization.” He or she is comfortable integrating market logics into many aspects of life, including education, parenting, and relationships. In other words, the ideal neoliberal citizen is an entrepreneur. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 36 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Of course, by the numbers, even the achievement of microfame was a rarity. But perhaps the odds were beside the point. As Mark Zuckerberg said of Facebook users, “They’re also building an image and identity for themselves, which in a sense is their brand.” Indeed, with Facebook and Twitter, everyone could now have a brand, and derive a little of the excitement and attention that went with traditional celebrity—perhaps even find a way to resell a bit of that attention. It portended a future a bit different than Andy Warhol had predicted, for in this future “everyone will be famous to fifteen people,” as the technologist David Weinberger quipped. Nonetheless, as Rex Sorgatz argued, “It feels like a step toward equality. You can become Facebook friends with the microfamous; you can start IM sessions with them. You can love them and hate them at much closer proximity.” And so just as American democracy promised that any child could grow up to become president, and American capitalism promised that through hard work anyone could become rich, the attention economy threw up its own mirage for the discontented masses: fame for everyone. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1031 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Neoliberal self-entrepreneurship destabilizes the fixed boundaries of personhood — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 418; Social media reframed self-identity as a personal brand selling attention — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1031; The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 36 (+8 more)

Related

• Entrepreneurship became a generalized ideal of selfhood, not just a career path (similarity 0.86)
• Neoliberal self-entrepreneurship destabilizes the fixed boundaries of personhood (similarity 0.86)
• The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker (similarity 0.81)
• Social media reframed self-identity as a personal brand selling attention (similarity 0.81)
• Facebook cultivated the self-as-brand among ordinary individuals (similarity 0.81)
• Self-optimization serves systemic market function, not personal flourishing (similarity 0.79)
• Social media self-presentation is a technology of self-governance under neoliberal capitalism. (similarity 0.79)
• Online self-presentation expresses a neoliberal subjectivity applying market principles to identity (similarity 0.78)
• Social media norms turn self-expression into self-branding aligned with corporate interests. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal self-entrepreneurship destabilizes the fixed boundaries of personhood #expands (0.88) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 418
• The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker #corroborates (0.82) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 36
• Social media reframed self-identity as a personal brand selling attention #exemplifies (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1031