The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker

Evidence

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

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘ideal neoliberal subject’ as the entrepreneur who applies market logics to every life domain.
• XREF: Connects to Wendy Brown’s ‘Undoing the Demos’ and to the entrepreneurial-self literature this chapter prefigures. — connects to: Entrepreneurship became a generalized ideal pervading personal identity and relationships; Neoliberalism works best when subjects willingly internalize market logic through everyday micro-interactions; Neoliberalism’s ultimate ideal self is the autonomous self-made individual — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 430 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism’s ultimate ideal self is the autonomous self-made individual #corroborates (0.92) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 430
• Neoliberal culture recasts welfare-state dependence as a moral failure to embrace risk #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 338
• Neoliberal choice is a pretense limited by means, networks, and inherited position #complicates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1599
• The neoliberal subject must constantly self-invest across all life domains #expands (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 360
• Neoliberalism induces risk-bearing then blames the victims when risk fails #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 351
• Neoliberals conditioned self-government on accepting market discipline #qualifies (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 297
• Neoliberal selfhood reframes reward and punishment as risk outcomes, not justice #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 273