Kati Kauppinen - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Female empowerment, success and agency have become icons of contemporary postfeminist popular cul... more Female empowerment, success and agency have become icons of contemporary postfeminist popular culture and especially of women's magazines. While in previous research these notions have been seen as manifestations of a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at an economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. This article seeks to contribute to the emerging body of research on the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, by using the example of the German edition of the women's magazine Cosmopolitan. Methodologically the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management' in two key domains of the magazine: work and sex. Following a multilayered examination, the study concludes that although the discourse of postfeminist self-management evokes a feminist ethos, its logic is that of neoliberal governmentality. Thus the study suggests that rather than feminist action of any kind, what is going on here is gender-specific neoliberal governance, whereby the subversive power of feminism is systematically turned into a productive force for the (self-)production of neoliberalized, entrepreneurial subjects.
Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life... more Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life have become hallmarks of contemporary postfeminist media culture, and especially of women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan. While in previous research these features have been seen as signs for a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at the economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. The aim of this article is to investigate further the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, in the domain of work, using the example of the German edition of Cosmopolitan. For a detailed and multilayered investigation the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis, focusing on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management'. The examination shows how this discourse, while on the one hand evoking an ethos of feminist engagement, on the other seeks to guide readers to mould themselves into a version of the entrepreneurial self required by the neoliberalized world of work.
Female empowerment, success and agency have become icons of contemporary postfeminist popular cul... more Female empowerment, success and agency have become icons of contemporary postfeminist popular culture and especially of women's magazines. While in previous research these notions have been seen as manifestations of a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at an economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. This article seeks to contribute to the emerging body of research on the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, by using the example of the German edition of the women's magazine Cosmopolitan. Methodologically the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management' in two key domains of the magazine: work and sex. Following a multilayered examination, the study concludes that although the discourse of postfeminist self-management evokes a feminist ethos, its logic is that of neoliberal governmentality. Thus the study suggests that rather than feminist action of any kind, what is going on here is gender-specific neoliberal governance, whereby the subversive power of feminism is systematically turned into a productive force for the (self-)production of neoliberalized, entrepreneurial subjects.
Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life... more Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life have become hallmarks of contemporary postfeminist media culture, and especially of women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan. While in previous research these features have been seen as signs for a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at the economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. The aim of this article is to investigate further the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, in the domain of work, using the example of the German edition of Cosmopolitan. For a detailed and multilayered investigation the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis, focusing on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management'. The examination shows how this discourse, while on the one hand evoking an ethos of feminist engagement, on the other seeks to guide readers to mould themselves into a version of the entrepreneurial self required by the neoliberalized world of work.