“Just take it off, where’s the problem?” How online commenters draw on neoliberal rationality to justify labour market discrimination against women wearing headscarves

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article we demonstrate how online commenters apply neoliberal rationality to defend the labour market exclusion of Muslim women wearing headscarves. Applying a thematic analysis, we identify the arguments of a debate in an online forum that discussed job market difficulties of Muslim women wearing headscarves. These arguments did not acknowledge the existence of discrimination but blamed the women for not adapting to the labour market. They supported an unregulated freedom for employers in their hiring-choices and argued that the employment of women wearing headscarves was harmful to firms’ profits, e.g. because these women would scare away customers, or because they were deemed less productive. Thus, online commenters prioritized employer’s interests over democratic values such as religious freedom. We use the concept of neoliberal rationality by Wendy Brown to explain our findings and to show how neoliberal values are used to rationalize the mistreatment of a marginalized group.