Cold Winds and Warm Attachments: Interrogating the Personal Attachment to Neoliberal Work and Economy

Karel Musílek, Kimberly Jamie and Linda McKie
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Karel Musílek: Durham University, UK
Kimberly Jamie: Durham University, UK
Linda McKie: The University of Edinburgh, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2020, vol. 34, issue 3, 514-525

Abstract: The question of personal attachment to work in neoliberalism is subject to debate. Some scholars postulate that personal attachment to work based on durability, collectivity and predictability is weakening because of changes in its organisation; work ceases to provide the basis of subjectivity and identity. Conversely, others claim work, and neoliberal economic logic generally, pervades ever deeper into our lives, shapes our subjectivity, and incites personal and individualised attachments. This article describes four ways social scientists have understood personal attachments: entrepreneurship discourse; biocracy; approaches emphasising desire, lack and affect; and approaches highlighting the normative justifications and ethics of the self. It interrogates their theoretical underpinnings, empirical focus and points of confluence and difference.

Keywords: affect; emotions; entrepreneurship; ethics; identity; individualisation; neoliberalism; organisation; subjectivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:3:p:514-525

DOI: 10.1177/0950017019856798

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