Belonging to oneself alone: The spirit of neoliberalism

Article


Rustin, M. 2014. Belonging to oneself alone: The spirit of neoliberalism. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 19 (2), pp. 145-160.
AuthorsRustin, M.
Abstract

In the last three decades, neoliberalism has come to dominate most of the West, reshaping many institutions according to its ideological belief in markets as the optimal form of regulation of social and economic life. Whereas formerly market ideology was contested by collectivist ideas of the public good, at this point of its triumph there is little systemic opposition to it. Does psychoanalysis have distinctive insights to offer on neoliberalism, and if so, can they contribute to contesting its domination? Two starting points for such a critique are the relational ideas that are the foundations of psychoanalytic object-relations approaches, and the post-Kleinian theory of narcissism. Neoliberalism is engaged in the remaking of identities and subjectivities in individualist terms, and psychoanalytic ideas provide a resource for contesting its conception of human nature.

JournalPsychoanalysis, Culture & Society
Journal citation19 (2), pp. 145-160
ISSN1543-3390
1088-0763
Year2014
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2014.7
Publication dates
Print01 Jun 2014
Publication process dates
Deposited22 Jan 2016
Copyright informationThis is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2014.7
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