Marketization and Foucault

Abstract

In the business disciplines such as marketing, when the occasional critical perspectives explore the concept of marketization, it is usually in the spirit of exploring a form of ‘excess’: too much commodification and overreach of marketing methods. This article takes the concept of ‘marketization’ into deeper theoretical territory, exploring in detail how the ideas of the influential social theorist Michel Foucault have shaped the contemporary concepts and realities of neoliberalism and marketization. The article also makes connections to marketing theory and practices, and indicates how these could evolve to keep marketization corralled and part of a large and varied mix of consumption practices.

From Social Marketing to Societal Perversion: History of Hometown Tax in Japan

“…Neoliberal governmentality survives regardless of the social good that is actually realized, while sequentially adjusting various conflicts created by excessive economical orders which are governed according to the principles of laissez-faire (Varman, Skålén and Belk 2012). Once the neoliberal governmentality penetrates, all other activities extend it (Özgün, Dholakia and Atik 2017).…”

Orbits of Contemporary Globalization

“…Yet, in our contemporary world of iconographic culture, market icons and iconic spectacular entities including brands and celebrity personalitiescarry the day, not symbolically negotiated principles. The hegemony of the market and the iconographic culture have given birth to the dominance of neoliberal ideology (see, e.g., Özgün, Dholakia and Atik 2017), an ideology that promotes the idea that if the market is left to work free of any interference then all liberal ideals of modernity, including democracy and civility will prevail. Consequently, the current form of globalization we are experiencing reflects all these aspects.…”

“…The globalization of this expansion and institutionalization of management of capitalism and neoliberal ideology also extends to cooptation of elements earlier not absorbed into the order, such as the privatization of public goods (Özgün, Dholakia and Atik 2017) and 'entrepreneurialization' of agency. We increasingly hear about state policies that promote and finance entrepreneurs and their budding firms, often called social enterprises (Akella and Eid 2017), which strive to provide what used to be public goods, such as garbage collection or penal administration, within a private economy.…”

The Fifth Epoch: Socio-Economic Approach to Sustainable Capitalism

“…Economic liberalism was held in check during the 30-year post-World War II Keynesian cycle that essentially created the American middle class, thereby bringing a balance of power to the production function (Cowie 2016;Herman 2012). As current global wealth disparity statistics show, that idyllic balance is gone and we are at a loss to find a counterbalance to the neoliberal force that has moved the market ahead of social good (see, e.g., Özgün, Dholakia and Atik 2017).…”