Disciplining The Labour Market In Europe: The Emerging Normative Neoliberal Order
Disciplining The Labour Market In Europe: The Emerging Normative Neoliberal Order

Author(s): Noëlle Burgi
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History of European Union, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Summary/Abstract: The social states developed in western Europe after the Second World War promoted economic development under conditions of relative social equity, becoming a foundational component of post-war collective identity. In recent decades however, there has been a gradual erosion of social protections and rights, reflecting the spread of neoliberal principles first articulated by the “conservative revolution” in the US and UK. Amplified but not caused by structural transformations of the world economy, there has been a marked shift from social solidarity to generalised competition. On a European level, the Commission has played a major role in the emergence of a new governmentality. As Foucault presciently pointed out (1979), neoliberal public policies refocused on disciplining labour, curbing dissent, submitting and regularising society, seen not as a community with a common destiny but as a collection of elementary particles. In the emerging normative neoliberal order, the resulting social anomie has led to greater state autonomy and generated the temptation for authoritarian managerialism from on top.

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