Growing Inequalities and the Neoliberal Subjects

This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by examining the rising economic inequalities in many Western liberal democracies. It traces these inequalities back to the economic reforms of the 1980s, which promoted economic globalisation and deregulation. The chapter then defines neoliberal ideology as involving not only an economic doctrine but also through its constitutive socio-cultural politics. While the former is concerned with economic relations, the latter primarily involves the question of subjecthood and the types of subjectivity most conducive to sustaining social relations within hyper-capitalist societies. The discussions in this chapter draw on existing reports on economic inequalities, historical analyses of inequality regimes, and post-structural sociological theories of subjectification.