Abstract
From competitive entrepreneur to violent warrior: Neoliberalism, Authoritarianism, and Militarisation
My contribution focusses on how authoritarianism has emerged from and increasingly permeated the neoliberal mainstream, how this process has led to militarisation, and how it is related to gender relations. My basic argument can be summarized in three theses:
- Neoliberal policies generalized the market model and increasingly divided society, while comprehensive discourses of competition and freedom proclaimed a male-coded entrepreneurial subject and established a “culture of toughness” (W. Fach), which, from a psychoanalytic point of view, have strengthened individual authoritarian dispositions and the longing for authority.
- Reflecting this longing for authority and the neoliberal rejection of the idea of equality, increasing social hierarchies are frequently naturalized and accompanied by the construction of enemy images, that generate a supposedly superior “us” in contrast to devalued “others”, both strategies also directly affecting gender relations.
- Enemy images ultimately legitimize armament and militarization, which revive a traditional ideal of masculinity that is associated with physical strength, violence and the “protection of women and children” – and thus female subordination to men.
Reflecting on this shift in the ideal of masculinity from competitive entrepreneur to violent warrior, I draw conclusions with regard to necessary societal change in the face of planetary boundaries, emphasizing its gender dimensions.
Short bio
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Name |
Mag. Mag. Dr. Gabriele Michalitsch |
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Position |
Lecturer |
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Affiliation |
Universität Wien, Faculty of Social Sciences: Department of Political Science, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology |
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Research focus |
Political economy, political theory, neoliberalism, feminist economics |
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relevant Publications |
Gabriele Michalitsch et al. 2023. „‘Die Frau ist das, was abgebildet ist’? Diskursive Hierarchien und Subversion“, [The woman is what is depicted’? Discursive hierarchies and subversion] In: Andrea Heinz (Ed.), Geschlecht & Gewalt: Künstlerisch-wissenschaftliche Perspektiven. [Gender & violence: artistic-scientific perspectives]. Wien: Praesens Verlag. Michalitsch, Gabriele. 2023. „‘Länge mal Breite zahlen wir drauf …’. Elfriede Jelineks feministische Kritik der politischen Ökonomie.“ [“’Length times width we pay for it …’. Elfriede Jelinek’s feminist critique of the political economy.”] In: Andrea Heinz (Ed.), Geschlecht & Gewalt: Künstlerisch-wissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Wien: Praesens. Michalitsch, Gabriele. 2020. „Lachen im Patriarchat: Komik, Affirmation und Subversion von Herrschaft.“ [Laughter in patriarchy: comedy, affirmation and subversion of domination] In: Peter Janke und Claudia Schenkermayr (Hg.), Komik und Subversion – Ideologiekritische Strategien. [Comedy and subversion – ideology-critical strategies] Wien: Praesens Verlag, 271–287. Michalitsch, Gabriele and Bettina Jirku. 2016. „Markt und Geschlecht.“ [The market and gender] In: Sylvia Felber (Ed.), Kapital, Macht, Geschlecht: Künstlerische Auseinandersetzungen mit Ökonomie und Gender. [Capital, power, gender: artistic explorations of economics and gender] Wien: Praesens Verlag, 52–57. Michalitsch, Gabriele (2006): Die neoliberale Domestizierung des Subjekts. Von den Leidenschaften zum Kalkül. [The neoliberal domestication of the subject. From passions to calculation] Frankfurt am Main, New York: Campus-Verlag. |
