Rags to riches: A critical analysis of social mobility discourse, ideology and power in neoliberal Indonesia

Abstract

The discourse of social mobility has become a central tenet of democratic societies worldwide. Commonly deployed as a panacea for inequality and source of social justice, the discourse can conceal and even perpetuate inequalities. Intertwined with neoliberal ideology, social mobility discourse is contextually contingent, manifesting differently according to local conditions. This paper critically analyses social mobility discourse in the Indonesian context through ‘rags to riches’ stories of female celebrities in media interviews. Applying a contextually sensitive approach to agency within a CDA framework, this paper contributes new knowledge to the study of social mobility discourse in the Global South. The findings illustrate the pervasiveness of neoliberalism and its coalescence with local ideologies of gender, class and place, and how upwardly mobile women deploy ideological resources to create a mobility niche. The discourse strategies they use legitimise their mobility but reproduce unequal relations of power, undermining the objectives of social mobility.