Exploring neoliberal social-reproduction: a working theoretical framework

This article proposes a working theoretical framework to explain and explore processes of neoliberal social reproduction. I focus on the interplay between neoliberal political-economic discourses and practices, contemporary Western media-culture, and individual agency. I make the case that research concerned with the hegemony of neoliberalism and its effects on culture and subjectivity needs to take an interdisciplinary approach that rejects the longstanding structure and agency dichotomy. To do so, I draw on a diverse set of socio-culture theoretical traditions, as well as concepts and arguments from academics not typically associated with social reproduction work. The article concludes by laying out what such an approach might look like.

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Centre for Public Policy Research, Working Papers Series, Paper No: 2