The neoliberal subject must constantly self-invest across all life domains

Evidence

Human capital is not driven by its interests, as was homo oeconomicus of yore. Nor is the classical liberal subject free to make its life and choose its values at will. Rather, human capital is constrained to self-invest in ways that contribute to its appreciation or at least prevent its depreciation; this includes titrating inputs such as education, predicting and adjusting to changing markets in vocations, housing, health, and retirement, and organizing its dating, mating, creative, and leisure practices in value-enhancing ways. Human capital is distinctly not concerned with acquiring the knowledge and experience needed for intelligent democratic citizenship. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 360

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the new human-capital subject from both classical homo oeconomicus and the liberal subject of free choice.
• XREF: Pairs with Foucault’s account of human capital theory in The Birth of Biopolitics. — connects to: Neoliberalism works best when subjects willingly internalize market logic through everyday micro-interactions; Neoliberalism extends market logic to regulate all human behavior. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 32; The ideal neoliberal subject is a self-sufficient entrepreneurial risk-taker — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 36 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism generalizes the enterprise form across the entire social body #expands (0.90) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 823
• Neoliberalism replaces labor with human capital and dissolves the stable self #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 162
• Neoliberalism is a governing rationality that frames all life in market terms #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 357
• Neoliberal self-entrepreneurship destabilizes the fixed boundaries of personhood #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 418
• Neoliberalism transformed even the criteria for individual self-evaluation #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 747
• Neoliberalism absorbed countercultural self-fashioning into self-optimization via the neurochemical self #exemplifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 421
• Neoliberalism replaces class analysis with a cynical catechism of limitless self-transformation #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 332
• Neoliberalism abolishes classes, the individual, and Lockean property in one move #complicates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 164