“It is important to trace neoliberal technology to a biopolitical mode of governing that centers on the capacity and potential of individuals and the population as living resources that may be harnessed and managed by governing regimes”

-Aihwa Ong

There are many reasons to believe that neoliberal practices go hand in hand with the changes and advancement in technology, but neoliberalism is seldom considered a technology in and of itself. Remember, neoliberalism is different from the Ford model in that it is not necessarily concerned about having total, structured control and unity. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Neoliberalism thrives off of sporadic variations; it is fueled by changes and advancements; it needs revolutions to stay in control. The catch is, when processes are inherently unfair and the subject-worker suffers, they are blamed for it. The growing pains of global expansion and the burden of precarious work in outsourced production are placed on individual citizens while responsibility is stripped away from the state. 

This brings us to the second point, that the ‘health’ and ‘well-being’ of the state does not necessarily guarantee the wellbeing of its citizens. This can best be seen in the example of Andrea Arai’s piece on Japan’s recession.  The article contextualizes post-war Japan, particularly the “economic miracle” achieved in the 1980s, all the way through the eventual decline in growth of the 1990s, as a space reflecting the social anxieties that accompany globalization and neo-liberal reform. In particular, Arai points to the pressure Japan feels to “survive” in an increasingly competitive global market, and places the spot light on Japan’s education system as the lead conductor to overcome its economic hurdles of the 1990s. Initially, Japanese media was quick to blame collapsing classrooms, unreliable households, and strange or isolated kids of the new generation as responsible for the decline. As such, a national educational reform was quickly installed to reflect the acceleration in global markets, so as to build a labor force that could compete in the arena (Arai).

Much like the violence in survival portrayed by the film Battle Royale, Japanese educational reform brought about violently intense competition and examination wars. Making  ‘global excellence’ their keyword for the new century, Japan’s deliberate system of ‘survival of the fittest’ successfully transferred the burden of economic recovery onto parents and students.  The consequence—once again—is the life and death struggle of every student and parent alike to cope within an aggressively competitive arena, where there will inevitably be a few winners and many more losers. 

Sources:

Arai, Andrea G. “Killing Kids: recession and survival in twenty-first-century Japan”, Postcolonial Studies, 6:3, 367-379 (2003).