Neoliberalism and Media
Consider the intellectual arc of our semester so far: we moved from capturing the contemporary pop cultural landscape as we see it today, to exploring the ways in which this landscape is implicated in producing and circulating notions of creativity, artistry, and culture, and then to making sense of the economic and cultural formations that have conspired to produce our particular pop cultural moment. We find ourselves in a moment in the semester wherein we have concluded that neoliberal philosophy has played a critical role in making our cultural industries (including, pop cultural industries) into what they are today. Consequently, neoliberal philosophy and its expressions in contemporary pop constitute the subject of this assignment. For this assignment, your task consists of three dimensions: (1) explain what neoliberal philosophy entails, then (2) provide a contemporary media example that illustrates neoliberal ideology, and (3) explain what this example illuminates for us about the state of cultural industries, power, etc. Your essay should enlist the help of at least 3 readings from our course material. Your example cannot be one we used in class. See below for more… (1) [This part of the assignment is descriptive] Your explanation of neoliberal philosophy should include an examination of the historical moment that gives birth to this philosophy, as well as the ideologies, values, and cultural sentiments that help mainstream neoliberal philosophy and transform it into a way of life. Some questions to consider: What major economic and cultural developments took place as a result of the rise of neoliberalism? What developments were specific to media and/or cultural industries? What ideologies or cultural values are key to neoliberal philosophy? How has the rise of this philosophy and its accompanying ideologies changed cultural industries and the art/culture they produce? (2) [This part of the assignment is your own intervention] We know that neoliberal ideologies (we discussed many!) can be found all over our pop culture and media; these ideologies are expressed and shored up in our cultural artifacts, including in our music, films, TV, podcasts, arts, etc. Select one example from pop culture that you feel either demonstrates and promotes neoliberal ideologies, challenges those ideologies, or does some combination of the two. This can be a song, a film, an episode of a TV series or a streaming series, a YouTube video, a meme, a TikTok trend, etc. (not from class). The selection of an example constitutes your intervention: you are making a case about how it is that this cultural artifact interacts with hegemonic neoliberal ideologies. (3) [This part of the assignment is your own argument] Providing an example and applying it to these ideas is only useful if you explain why it’s meaningful: what does this example teach us about contemporary pop cultural industries, OR about how power is wielded within neoliberalism, OR about how culture is made within neoliberal industries, etc? In other words, why does this matter? Each response should be between 4 – 6 pages, 12-pt font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced. This means that at minimum, it should be a full 4 pages. Good luck!
Neoliberalism and Media
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Neoliberalism and Media
Often, thinkers come up with varying ideologies in various disciplines to address specific challenges that they come across. Such theoretical frameworks are common and have been widely developed in economics. In this case, economic ideology refers to a set of views that form the basis of the decision regarding how economies should run. An ideology is closely related to a theory. However, while the latter is simply explanatory, the former is normative. An example of economic philosophy, which is discussed in this current review, is neoliberalism. Theories establish precise explanatory structures for describing how an economy functions. On the other hand, underlying economic ideologies, like neoliberal philosophy, influence theory, and methodology in analyzing various aspects of a discipline. Ideologies change the ways of doing things and may have diverse effects. For example, a source links neoliberal philosophy to the rise in terrible superhero films grossing billions of dollars, political disappointments reaching back decades, skyrocketing income inequality, the 208 financial crisis, and a crippled welfare state (Shenk, 2015). Whether this assertion is true or not, neoliberalism can bring such divergent economic outcomes. This review explains the components of neoliberal philosophy, outlines a contemporary media example that illustrates neoliberal, and solicits knowledge regarding how such an example illuminates the state of cultural industries in society.
Explanation of Neoliberal Philosophy
According to Harvey (2006), neoliberalism or neoliberal philosophy refers to the political-economic ideology that the best way to advance human well-being is through increased entrepreneurial freedoms. This ideology calls for institutions, organizations, and nations to follow a framework defined by traits such as free trade, unencumbered markets, individual liberty, and private property rights. Within such a system, interference by the state is unwelcome. Governments should only play the role of preserving the framework appropriate to neoliberalism. They can do this by ensuring the integrity and quality of the medium of exchange, like the currency of a given nation. Setting up the judicial, police, defense, and military functions is also a critical role by the government within an economy that follows neoliberalism to support freely functioning markets and secure private property rights (Harvey, 2006). A neoliberal philosophy entails the establishment of markets by the state if they do not exist. Such markets which may require the government's input include environmental conservation efforts, social security, health care, and education, among other relevant provisions.
Today, neoliberal philosophy is a hegemonic discourse that pervasively impacts economic, political, and thought activities. People rely on this ideology as a commonsense means to understand, live in, and interpret the world (Harvey, 2006). As mentioned above, achieving such an exalted status resulted from various historical milestones. Past scholars have pushed for the popularity of this concept. It is astonishing how the ideology has remained relevant in economics and other areas of life despite the many criticisms from thinkers who present alternative philosophies. A major criticism of the concept is the low level of effectiveness in facilitating economic growth. However, neoliberalism has effectively channeled wealth from poorer to richer nations and from subordinate classes to dominant ones.
The historical moment that gave birth to neoliberalism was the significant recession of 1973 (Harvey, 2006). However, the capitalistic economy of the world started falling into disarray way earlier in the 1960s (Harvey, 2006). In 1973, major social and individual well-being disruptions led to abandoning the Bretton Woods accord in favor of floating exchange rates meant to regulate global finances and trade (Harvey, 2006). In the next decade, replacing this setup with neoliberalism was inevitable. However, it followed a gradual process: the convergence of the Washington Consensus. A key cultural development associated with neoliberalism is transforming cultural materials such as music, craft, architecture, and art into capitalist commodities (Lawn & Prentice, 2015). This shift is specific to media and cultural industries because aspects of the people’s ways of life could be showcased to an audience that prices a price on it. Indigenous cultural properties were no longer the same w...