Despite being considered one of the dominant ideologies shaping our world today, neoliberalism as a term is often misunderstood or incorrectly defined (Thorsen & Lie). In the U.S., the isolated term ‘liberal’ is associated with left-wing political and economic sensibilities, and is often used in conjunction with the term ‘progressive’ (Thomas & Yang). Yet at its core neoliberalism inherently embodies features that American discourse would consider ‘conservative,’ such as the need to protect market activity, often through less regulation.  In this way, it can be difficult to understand what neoliberalism refers to, but some definitions to help us gather the concept are as follows:

Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices. 

–D. Harvey 

Neoliberal governments promote notions of open markets, free trade, the reduction of the public sector, the decrease of state intervention in the economy, and the deregulation of markets.  

–A.C. Torres

But to even say neoliberalism can be ‘defined’ by any given definition or description is a mistake; no singular explanation can cover the entire spectrum in which neoliberalism permeates the global economy, the centers of education, the industrial work force, race relations and the individual, just to name a few. 

In this path we are interested specifically in the qualities of neoliberalism pertinent to the increase in global consumption practices of youth.  What we see in the postwar ‘Second Coming of Capitalism’ is a change in ideas about desirable as well as required ways of being. As economies merge, productions increase, nations rise and fall, how is labor affected? Who is included and excluded, and who or what is to blame? How does shifting expectations in normative society shape the lived experiences of individuals—both successful and unsuccessful? What does survival mean in the context of neoliberalism?

Sources:

Comaroff, J., and J. L. Comaroff. "Millennial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second Coming." Public Culture 12.2 (2000): 291-343. Web.

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