******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
How, therefore, has the notion of individualism been recast in relation to the neoliberal spirit of capitalism? Among many illustrations, developments in consumerism can be noted. In advertising, the nurturing of the self, through the purchase of commodities, is frequently offered as being both desirable and necessary. The neoliberal twist on ‘individual’ is distinctive in at least two ways. First, the category of ‘the consumer’ has now extended into other fields, such as politics, education, and health. While consumer has always carried an unfavourable tone, initially meaning to destroy and to waste, one could argue that the popularisation of the term beyond purely commercial settings is helping to neutralise this criticism. Second, with the valorisation of choice and competitiveness as guiding principles for societal organisation, the appeal to personalisation and customisation offers further extensions of neoliberal thinking. From the late 1980s, these latter expressions became concerns for many businesses, with marketing theory helping to craft, and implement, such agendas. The rise of ‘mass customisation’ systems was made financially viable by new flexible manufacturing processes, such as seen in the automotive industry (Davis 1989; Kotler 1989; Alford, Sackett, and Nelder 2000). In this sense, therefore, the marketing of individualised choice to larger populations – a visible phenomena by turn of the century – required the development of an elaborate infrastructure, with respect to manufacturing, processing, and trade
https://www.academia.edu/13596381/Historicising_the_Neoliberal_Spirit_of_Capitalism_in_Springer_S._Birch_K._and_MacLeavy._J._eds_The_Routledge_Handbook_of_Neoliberalism_Abingdon_Routledge_2016_ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
