> 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_ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
