Language, ideology and neoliberalism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Exploring neoliberal language, discourses, and identities
In S. Preece (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity. London: Routledge., 2016
This chapter addresses the ways in which our co-constructed identities and performed identifications (Hall 1996) have been dialogically articulated and enacted within neoliberal discursive formations that have co-evolved with neoliberal policies and practices. In discussing these neoliberal identity and discursive multimodal enactments, be they through verbal and/or visual performativities, I aim not to merely describe these now not-so-new phenomena, but rather, in drawing attention to them, to explore how we can contribute to the counter-hegemonic process of re-situating and realigning our identities with community-based notions of social justice and freedom. I first begin with discussing a fuller account of how neoliberalism has been understood. I then turn to the ways in which neoliberal discourses have been mediated through identity formations and agencies. I next suggest several avenues of research to explore these discursive identities, and finally conclude by arguing for the need to create alternatives and answers to neoliberal discourses and identities.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2018
The neoliberal era is often surmised as the extension of the free market, increasing privatisation, and the commodification of everything. A large body of work has shed much light on the way in which during the neoliberal period, a discursive shift has taken place whereby language is increasingly seen in instrumental terms of profit rather than in ethno/ national pride. Though such work engages with language as a commodity within discourse, the view that language and languages themselves are literally commodities remains problematic. It is argued in this article that in the case of private commercial language schools known as eikaiwa in Japan, what is produced and consequently on sale, is not language itself, but rather the lesson. What this article offers, is an example of how commodity fetishism plays out in relation to language education, and how the commodity comes to be divorced from its production and its producers, in the recontextualization of the lesson in advertising. In contrast to previous work on eikaiwa advertising which focusses on depictions of exotic and eroticised white native Englishspeaking Others, the analysis here finds that representations of teachers, is largely absent. The article argues that this erasure of labour (teachers), and the foregrounding of the student in advertising, illustrate a form of commodity fetishism particular to the neoliberal period, where the student as neoliberal homo-oeconomicus – producer of her own desire -comes to the fore.
CALL, Native-Speakerism/Culturism, and Neoliberalism
Interchange, 2019
This paper discusses the emergence of a new student figure as a result of the Anglophone (We use the term 'Anglophone' here with no intention that native-speakerism and native-culturism are exclusively related to the English language, but only to describe the current situation in out context in which English is the dominant language) neoliberal order; that is, the neolliberalized student. Following the work of many who recognised the rise of homo oeconomicus (O'Boyle (Mayo Research Institute Journal of Markets & Morality 10: 321-337, 2007) provides a brief genealogy of the term "homo economicus") as opposed to homo politicus as reported by Brown (Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution, Zone Books, New York, 2015), we suggest that students are undergoing a similar change and turning into economised and overly visual (Greenfield in Science 323: 69-71, 2009) rather than thinking ones. We further suggest that when learning English this new student subject espouses attendant ideologies to neoliberalism such as native-speakerism and native-culturism, particularly when it uses technology [the latter of which has come to be called computer-assisted language learning (CALL)]. We explore the intersections between the three concepts of neoliberalism, native-speakerism/culturism, and CALL in students' cognitions while using English language learning apps to determine the dominance of such a figure. To do that exploration, we conducted a study of two phases (the first focused on students' cognitions and the second of which focused on students' practices) to confirm and further study-when necessary and possible-such cognitions. Results revealed that for the majority of students, neoliberal, native-speakerist/culturist perceptions about CALL prevailed, especially in their practices, a situation that makes it imperative for teachers to more vigorously raise awareness among students and more actively interrogate the existence of such biases.
Slogans: Subjection, Subversion, and the Politics of Neoliberalism
European Journal of Communication, 2019
Make America Great' has become synonymous with a very distinct perspective on politics, society, America and politicians. It encapsulates a world view associated with US President Donald Trump, which includes controversial perspectives on race, immigration, the environment, politicians and even knowledge. It is slogans like this that encapsulate a time, place and perspective in a given society. And it is here where this edited collection starts. Slogans can be defined as a 'formula with effect' (Navarro Dominguez, 2005: 270). This very pragmatic view of slogans, used in this collection, sees them as performative discourse. Contributions to this collection are concerned with how words such as 'Make America Great again' are a part of politics and society at a time when neoliberalism is a dominant global discourse. This collection is a novel anthropological insight into a number of societies and their politics through the prism of their production and use of slogans to both promote and/ or subvert neoliberalism. This can be exemplified by Trump's slogan quoted above, which was formulated to encourage certain voter behaviours. But it was also patented by Trump, thus generating cash while being used in popular culture to parody Trump and his policies. Six ethnographic case studies from around the globe make up this volume. They come from Slovakia, Poland, Peru, Abu Dhabi, and two separate regions from the People's Republic of China: Macau and Shenzhen. Each contributor examines the production and use of political slogans 'seeking to throw light on how words are employed to persuade and affect publics in an age of global capitalism' (p. 1). In other words, the collection considers 'how the slogan as a particular cultural form operates in settings where political performance is shaped by the neoliberal logic of governance' (p. 2). Case studies reveal and illustrate a number of sociological and political issues relevant for anyone interested in the nations examined. They are also useful for students and academics who study the use of language, politics and anthropology. Chapters highlight 862129E JC0010.