Critiquing “Neoliberalism”: Three Interrogations and a Defense
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Date
2014
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Phelan, Sean
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Rights
Abstract
Looked at broadly, we can identify two distinct discourses about neoliberalism in
communication and media studies and elsewhere. The first deploys the term to enact a familiar
critical narrative, where neoliberalism signifies a social order dominated by the logic of the
market. This narrative has been given different inflections in communication and media research.
Neoliberalism has functioned as a descriptive and explanatory category in analyses of topics
such as infotainment (Thussu, 2007), media ownership (Herman & McChesney, 1997),
multiculturalism (Lentin & Titley, 2011), reality television (Ouellette & Hay, 2008), political
marketing (Savigny, 2008), intellectual property rights (Hesmondhalgh, 2008), and the cultural
politics of voice (Couldry, 2010). Others have examined the communicative dynamics of “free
market” regimes without explicitly deploying the term “neoliberalism” (Aune, 2001). More
generally, the role of media and communication practices in the ideological constitution of
neoliberalism is taken for granted in the wider literature (see Birch & Mykhnenko, 2010; Harvey,
2005). [First paragraph.]
Description
Keywords
Neoliberalism, Communication and media studies
Citation
Phelan, S. (2014). Critiquing neoliberalism: Three interrogations and a defense. In LA. Lievrouw (Ed.) Challenging Communication Research. (pp. 27 - 41). Pieterlen, Switzerland: Peter Lang