Neoliberal Discourse: Theory, History and Trajectories

Neoliberalism has often been conceptualized as a discourse (Holborow, 2012b). Bourdieu and Wacquant (2001) describe it as a “double” discourse that “although founded on belief, mimics science by superimposing the appearance of reason” (p. 4). Fairclough (2002) cites “neoliberal political discourse” as one of the constituent elements of a new capitalist formation where value is accrued through signification and branding practices (Hearn, 2008). And rejecting the “false dichotomy” (p. 133) between Marxist and governmentality perspectives, Springer (2012) commends a discourse-based account of neoliberalism which conceptualizes it as a “mutable, inconsistent, and variegated process that circulates through the discourses it constructs, justifies, and defends” (p. 135).