Neoliberalism’s ultimate ideal self is the autonomous self-made individual

Evidence

This is the true terminus of the neoliberal self: to supplant your own mother and father; to shrug off the surly bond ratings of earth; to transform yourself at the drop of a hat or the swallow of a pill; to be beholden to no other body but only to the incorporeal market. It doesn’t matter if the procedure actually lies within the bounds of contemporary scientific possibility, because it is the apocalypse and the Rapture of the neoliberal scriptures. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 430

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing understanding of the neoliberal ‘homo economicus’ ideal and its literary treatment in Parable of the Sower’s self-reliant protagonist. — connects to: The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 36; Neoliberalism governs people by getting them to self-regulate toward economic ideals. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 38; Silicon Valley’s ideology fuses technological determinism with libertarian individualism. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 118 (+22 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism transformed even the criteria for individual self-evaluation #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 747
• The neoliberal subject must constantly self-invest across all life domains #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 360
• Neoliberals conditioned self-government on accepting market discipline #complicates (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 297
• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination #complicates (0.78) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153