Feminism, psychology, and the gendering of neoliberal subjectivity

From critique to disruption

Bibliographic Data

ID20402007
AuthorsAlexandra Rutherford (0000-0001-5089-1495, York University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume28
Issue5
Pages619-644
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3543 • E-ISSN: 1461-7447
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959354318797194
OpenAlexW2895823493
LanguageEN
Citations received49
References cited91

Numerous feminist scholars have argued that women, especially young women, have been constructed as ideal neoliberal subjects. Informed by Foucauldian approaches that extend neoliberalism beyond a set of free market principles to a dynamic that creates new forms of subjectivity, these scholars have demonstrated the elisions between “postfeminism” and neoliberalism in the positioning of young women as consumers, self-helpers, and “empowered” agents par excellence. The psy-disciplines have actively participated in the gendering of neoliberal subjectivity and I selectively review feminist critiques of this complicity. These critiques problematize discourses of empowerment, agency, and choice, even as they have seeped into feminist psychology itself. I then consider the theoretical resources that are available within and beyond feminist psychology to disrupt and even displace neoliberal forms of subjectivity. Building on insights from psychosocial studies, intersectional and decolonial approaches, and critical history and conjunctural thinking, I brainstorm some alternatives that feminist psychologists could offer

Complicity · Epistemology · Feminism · Feminist epistemology · Feminist philosophy · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Subjectivity · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

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