Abstract
AbstractThis paper theorizes the nature of neoliberal social policy, making three substantial contributions. First, processes of “economization” are identified as a central characteristic of neoliberalism: economization constitutes a “bridge” between Foucauldian and (neo-)Marxist accounts of neoliberalism – two perspectives that are in many respects hardly reconcilable – because extending the economic logic to non-economic areas (neoliberalism as a governmental rationality) also potentially increases the profit-making opportunities in previously uncommodified domains (neoliberalism as a capitalist project). Second, the paper links economization processes not only to projects of austerity and welfare retrenchment but also to the more generous “social investment” agenda. Third, the paper highlights the central paradox of neoliberal social policy, whereby higher degrees of economization are associated with more generous social policy: more “social” versions of neoliberalism are those that ironically downplay the social logic, transforming social policies into economic investments. The paper also discusses the problems related to economization in terms of de-democratization.
Highlights
THEGOAL of this paper is to theorize the consequences of neoliberalism for social policy
Neoliberalism is associated with an intensification of economization processes already inherent in capitalism, whereby the “economic” comes to dominate the “social.” From a very different perspective, Foucault [2008: 240-242] comes to a similar conclusion: applying an “economic grid” to a field previously defined “in opposition to the economy,” or at least “as complementary to the economy,” and in which “the economy itself is situated”—namely, society—neoliberalism inverts the relationship “of the social to the economic,” promoting the “economization of the entire social field.”
Economization processes link these two otherwise conflicting perspectives on neoliberalism: extending the economic logic to non-economic areas makes it possible to increase the possibilities for capitalist accumulation in previously uncommodified domains
Summary
THEGOAL of this paper is to theorize the consequences of neoliberalism for social policy. This included the presence of a real alternative to capitalism at the global level [Vázquez-Arroyo 2008: 154]: the concrete “communist threat” required capitalists to concede compensatory measures and socially oriented reforms to strong unions and social democratic parties in order to prevent the development of revolutionary attitudes among the populace, and the working class in particular. Policy should focus on economic goals—social ones will follow automatically from greater prosperity
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