Foucault News

News and resources on French thinker Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Rudnyckyj, D.
The Protestantism of neoliberalism (2024) Culture, Theory and Critique, .

DOI: 10.1080/14735784.2024.2313602

Abstract
This essay illuminates the affinity between of Protestantism and neoliberalism. Drawing on the insights of Max Weber and Michel Foucault, the essay demonstrates how both Protestantism and neoliberalism are premised on a common set of norms and ethical practices. In so doing, I seek to diagram the points of convergence between these two formations to account, in part, for the persistence of neoliberalism. The affinity between Protestantism and neoliberalism is evident in the fact that both entail the rationalisation of a totalising system, reflexive responsibilisation, recasting the pastoral function, the assimilation of labour, the compulsion for action in conditions of unknowability, and the economisation of power. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Author Keywords
assimilation of labour; Max Weber; Michel Foucault; Neoliberalism; protestantism

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