Utopier, hopp och hopplöshet. Hur feministiska framtidsbilder och känslor av hopp påverkas av den nyliberala diskursen

Abstract

If those who formulate visions of the future are prevented from thinking freely because of a reduced capacity to imagine a different world, then there is a risk that they only advocate limited changes. Some feminist researchers in political theory and philosophy, such as Wendy Brown (2003, 2008, 2015) and Johanna Oksala (2011, 2013), claim that this has affected feminist movements. They believe that hope for a different future has been weakened among today’s feminists and that this development can be explained by the spread of the neoliberal discourse. In this article, I discuss theories on how the neoliberal discourse has affected feminist movements and relate such theories to the lived experiences of contemporary feminist engagement. The latter is based on an interview study with seven Swedish feminists engaged in different feminist organizations. The analysis indicates that the neoliberal discourse could have affected how utopias are used and what inspires hope among contemporary feminists. The result of the study also indicates that feelings of hopelessness can be useful in feminist work.