“Neoliberal subjects” and “Neoliberal affects” in academia: Methodological, theoretical and political implications

Abstract

This paper suggests that scholarship on the affective life of neoliberalism in academia needs to exercise more caution when it invokes the notions of “neoliberal subjects” and “neoliberal affects.” It is argued that this scholarship needs to expand its conceptual and theoretical vocabulary to recognize the multiplicities of new injunctions and prohibitions on how academics and students feel in different academic contexts in relation to neoliberalism(s). The paper surveys representative studies in higher education that show how affective subjectivation takes place in neoliberal academia to unravel the underlying presuppositions made about neoliberal subjects. Based on this survey, it is suggested that there are methodological, theoretical, and political reasons to avoid invoking a monolithic notion of “neoliberal subjects” in academia; rather, it is crucial to make more modest claims that are sensitive to the nuances of particular neoliberalisms and the real conditions for the formation of affects in particular academic contexts.