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ABSTRACT
There is a large literature dealing with neoliberal subjectivities at a conceptual and theoretical level. This paper joins a growing body of empirical studies of entrepreneurial subjectivity as it is lived and experienced. This article presents an analysis of a series of focus groups designed to explore the contours of the neoliberal subjectivities of a deliberately diverse group of citizens in contemporary New Zealand. Findings support the thesis that most people do not enthusiastically endorse neoliberalism at the level of its core ideas and values but, rather, accept it as an unalterable reality. This dynamic of ‘disaffected compliance’ was reinforced by the presence not just of negative affects (anxiety, helplessness and so on) but also, crucially, of positive affects. Feeling themselves unable to change the system that they (said they) did not like, participants derived pride, pleasure and satisfaction from their capacity to perform successfully within that unloved system.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Peter Skilling
Peter Skilling is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management at the Auckland University of Technology. His PhD is from the University of Auckland. His research interests revolve around the links between economic and discursive power. He has just completed a multi-year project on attitudes toward economic inequality, supported by a grant from the Marsden Fund.