Neoliberal abandonment forces a hardened self-reliance that blocks trust and long-term commitment
Evidence
One of the many values of Silva’s book is the thorough account it gives of the emotional and cultural roots of negative solidarity. Silva argues that the hardened model of subjectivity that she sees exhibited by most of the people she interviewed for her study is the result of years of institutional and existential abandonment. A therapeutic narrative of heroic selftransformation is the only story that makes sense in a world in which institutions can no longer be relied upon to support or nurture individuals. In an environment dominated by unrelenting competition and insecurity, it is neither possible to trust others, nor to project any sort of long-term future. Naturally, these two problems feed into one another, in one of the many vicious spirals which neoliberal culture has specialised in innovating. The inability to imagine a secure future makes it very difficult to engage in any sort of long-term commitment. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1934
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Lauren Berlant’s cruel optimism and the broader literature on how precarity reshapes subjectivity and intimacy. — connects to: Chronic losses from over-trusting create powerful incentives to abandon the disposition — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 211; Neoliberals conditioned self-government on accepting market discipline — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 297; Self-fulfilling distrust becomes individually rational and resistant to disproof (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Distrust self-reinforces by withholding the information cooperation would provide
#corroborates(0.88) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 604 - Initial trust levels create self-reinforcing spirals of cooperation or distrust
#corroborates(0.85) — TOMASZ OLEJNICZAK, Development of Trust in Low-Trust…, 14 - Self-fulfilling distrust becomes individually rational and resistant to disproof
#corroborates(0.82) - Chronic losses from over-trusting create powerful incentives to abandon the disposition
#complicates(0.78) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 211 - Neoliberals conditioned self-government on accepting market discipline
#expands(0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 297