Social media & neoliberalism
, Neoliberalism
• This is a concept drawn from economics-about a self-regulating market
• The focus is on the individual/populations to be responsible for their own economic
successes but also their failures
• “A mentality of rule because it represents a method of rationalising the exercise of
government, a rationalisation that obeys the internal rule of maximum economy”
(Foucault, 1997, p. 74)
• It is a governing reality, that neoliberalism is invested in maintaining a particular
type of reality (that people are responsible for themselves and only themselves)
(Lemke, 2001; Rose, 1999)
• For neoliberalism to function, we must assume we are free and accountable (Rose,
1999)
• The driving ethos of individual as responsible has been applied to a number of
personal circumstances, including the body
Social media and Technologies of the self
• Foucault (1988)
• “technologies of the self” – principle of practice – we do things, practices and
activities that constitute who we are.
• Identity, and self-understanding, is constructed through practices (actions).
• These practices are constituted through power discourses.
• They allow and inhibit things to be experienced, discussed, felt,
• Individuals identities through power-steeped discourses and practices
• E.g. technologies of the self involved in going to weight watchers (the practice) are:
responsiblisation (individuals are responsible for themselves), healthism
(responsible for health), normalization (adherence to expectations), and self-esteem
Öngün and Demirağ (2014)
• New technologies provide the opportunity to institute new practices, still steeped in
existing power structures, for self-construction
• New technologies offer options for further self-reflection and continued
construction of the self
The Neoliberal body: selfies
• Schmeichel, Kerr & Linder (2017)
• Selfie taking in women
• Selfies are performances of traditional femininity are legitimated, authorized, and
reinscribed through photo-posting practices
, Neoliberalism
• This is a concept drawn from economics-about a self-regulating market
• The focus is on the individual/populations to be responsible for their own economic
successes but also their failures
• “A mentality of rule because it represents a method of rationalising the exercise of
government, a rationalisation that obeys the internal rule of maximum economy”
(Foucault, 1997, p. 74)
• It is a governing reality, that neoliberalism is invested in maintaining a particular
type of reality (that people are responsible for themselves and only themselves)
(Lemke, 2001; Rose, 1999)
• For neoliberalism to function, we must assume we are free and accountable (Rose,
1999)
• The driving ethos of individual as responsible has been applied to a number of
personal circumstances, including the body
Social media and Technologies of the self
• Foucault (1988)
• “technologies of the self” – principle of practice – we do things, practices and
activities that constitute who we are.
• Identity, and self-understanding, is constructed through practices (actions).
• These practices are constituted through power discourses.
• They allow and inhibit things to be experienced, discussed, felt,
• Individuals identities through power-steeped discourses and practices
• E.g. technologies of the self involved in going to weight watchers (the practice) are:
responsiblisation (individuals are responsible for themselves), healthism
(responsible for health), normalization (adherence to expectations), and self-esteem
Öngün and Demirağ (2014)
• New technologies provide the opportunity to institute new practices, still steeped in
existing power structures, for self-construction
• New technologies offer options for further self-reflection and continued
construction of the self
The Neoliberal body: selfies
• Schmeichel, Kerr & Linder (2017)
• Selfie taking in women
• Selfies are performances of traditional femininity are legitimated, authorized, and
reinscribed through photo-posting practices
