BOOK
Social Justice and Neoliberalism
Mark Boyle | Robert Rogerson | Peter North | Kathrin Horschelmann | Simon Reid-Henry | Colin Marx | Mark Boyle | Ergul Ergun | Elizabeth Olson | Vinny Pattinson | Professor Adrian Smith | Professor Alison Stenning | Katie Willis
(2009)
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Book Details
Abstract
The continuing expansion of neoliberalism into ever more spaces and spheres of life has profound implications for social justice. Despite the number of policies designed to target ‘social exclusion’, people in many communities continue to be marginalized by economic restructuring.
Social Justice and Neoliberalism explores the connections between neoliberalism, social justice and exclusion. The authors raise critical questions about the extent to which neoliberal programmes are able to deliver social justice in different locations around the world. The book offers grounded, theoretically oriented, empirically rich analysis that critiques neoliberalism while understanding its material impacts. It also stresses the need to extend analyses beyond the dominant spheres of capitalism to look at the ways in which communities resist and remake the economic and social order, through contestation and protest but also in their everyday lives.
Global in scope, this book brings together writers who examine these themes in the global South, the former ‘communist’ East and the West, using the experience of marginal peoples, places and communities to challenge our conceptions of capitalism and its geographies.
'Social justice and neoliberalism is a refreshing alternative to the "global steamroller" view of the free-market revolution. Punchy and prescient, this superb collection of essays does a great job of putting neoliberalism in its place-both theoretically and politically.'
Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia
'This excellent book focuses on the everyday spaces of neoliberalism. Richly theorised case studies from eight very different countries examine how processes associated with marketisation are differentially experienced and contested. Not only does this book provide new evidence of the relationship between neoliberalism and economic marginalisation, it also identifies the importance of new identities and forms of governance, and explores the implications for social justice. It is an impressive contribution to the literature on neoliberalism that should be read by critical scholars and all those interested in the changing lives of real people.'
Wendy Larner, University of Bristol
'As the economic pundits acknowledge (finally!) the failures of the neoliberal order, Social Justice and Neoliberalism offers new research into its devastating impacts on everyday lives. In fine-grained and wide-ranging analyses, the authors demonstrate how neoliberalism was domesticated, spatialized, diversified, co-constituted, resisted and recoded by people and organizations in place. This meticulously researched collection not only indicts neoliberal ideology but points beyond it to possibilities for ethical markets and more just economic relations.'
J.K. Gibson-Graham
Adrian Smith is Professor of Human Geography and Head of the Department of Geography at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Reconstructing the Regional Economy (1998), Theorising Transition (1998) and Work, Employment and Transition (2002). He has been an editor of Regional Studies and will be an editor of European Urban and Regional Studies from 2009.
Alison Stenning is Reader in Economic and Social Geography in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University. Her work has been published in a number of sociology and geography journals.
Katie Willis is Reader in Development Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her main publications include Theories and Practices of Development (2005); Gender and Migration (2000), Challenges and Change in Middle America (2002) and State/Nation/Transnation (2004). She is editor of Geoforum and International Development Planning Review.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figures and tables | vii | ||
| Acknowledgements | ix | ||
| Introduction: Social justice and neoliberalism | 1 | ||
| Neoliberalism and resistance | 3 | ||
| Identities, subjectivities and new forms of governance | 5 | ||
| Social justice and neoliberalism | 7 | ||
| Diverse economies and neoliberalization | 10 | ||
| Conclusion | 11 | ||
| References | 12 | ||
| 1 Voices from the trueque: barter networks and resistance to neoliberalism in Argentina | 16 | ||
| Alternative currencies and neoliberalism | 19 | ||
| Figure 1.1 Map of Argentina’s barter networks discussed | 20 | ||
| Figure 1.2 Barter network meeting in Gualeguachu, Argentina | 21 | ||
| Figure 1.3 Barter network vegetable market in Mendoza, Argentina | 22 | ||
| Resisting or recoding neoliberalization? | 24 | ||
| Internalizing neoliberalism? Barter networks as welfare | 29 | ||
| Conclusion | 34 | ||
| Notes | 35 | ||
| References | 36 | ||
| 2 Confounding neoliberalism: priests, privatization and social justice in the Peruvian Andes | 39 | ||
| Neoliberalism, ideology and the non-economic | 40 | ||
| Figure 2.1 Map of Peru | 44 | ||
| Figure 2.2 Market held outside the Catholic Church during Easter celebrations in the Andes, Peru | 52 | ||
| State-led development and activism in the Southern Andes | 45 | ||
| Privatization and democratic politics | 50 | ||
| Figure 2.2 Market held outside the Catholic Church during \rEaster celebrations in the Andes, Peru | 52 | ||
| Figure 2.3 Encouraging voting among Sunday churchgoers in the Andes, Peru | 53 | ||
| Figure 3.1 A Polishwoman cleans the foyer of one of London’s numerous corporate headquarters | 74 | ||
| Conclusion: confounding neoliberalism? | 55 | ||
| Notes | 57 | ||
| References | 57 | ||
| 3 Travelling neoliberalism: Polish and Ghanaian migrant workers in London | 61 | ||
| Structural adjustment, transition economies and migration | 63 | ||
| Neoliberal restructuring, the London economy and the return of the repressed | 70 | ||
| Figure 3.1 A Polish woman cleans the foyer of one of London’s numerous corporate headquarters | 74 | ||
| Figure 3.2 A Ghanaian woman cleaning toilets at the London headquarters of a major international bank | 79 | ||
| Conclusions | 82 | ||
| Notes | 84 | ||
| References | 85 | ||
| 4 Neoliberalization and its discontents: the experience of working poverty in Manchester | 90 | ||
| Neoliberalism and urban labour markets: why work no longer works | 92 | ||
| Table 4.1 Worker security in Fordist and neoliberal labour markets | 93 | ||
| Table 4.2 Living wage levels calculated in various UK urban areas using the LCA budget standards methodology | 97 | ||
| A living wage for Manchester | 98 | ||
| Figure 4.1 Manchester and the study area wards: Ardwick and Baguley | 99 | ||
| Figure 4.2 Manchester: a juxtaposed cityscape of poverty and affluence | 100 | ||
| Figure 4.2 Manchester: a juxtaposed cityscape of poverty \rand affluence | 100 | ||
| The experience of working poverty in Manchester | 101 | ||
| Squaring the circle? Local social justice and actually existing neoliberalism | 107 | ||
| Notes | 109 | ||
| References | 109 | ||
| 5 Bargaining with the devil: neoliberalization, informal work and workers’ resistance in the clothing industry of Turkey | 114 | ||
| Figure 5.1 Map of Turkey | 115 | ||
| Neoliberal economic policies, labour flexibility and the informal sector | 115 | ||
| Structural adjustment in Turkey | 118 | ||
| The textile and clothing industry in Turkey | 119 | ||
| Figure 5.2 A typical peripheral neighbourhood of Istanbul, in which the researcher worked as a garment worker | 120 | ||
| Figure 5.3 Two clothing workshops in Istanbul, hidden in the ground and basement floor of a residential flat | 121 | ||
| Spatial divisions of labour in the clothing industry and industrial workshops | 121 | ||
| State policies relating to the clothing industry and the informal sector | 122 | ||
| Trade unions and informal-sector workers in Turkey | 124 | ||
| Bargaining and its limits | 127 | ||
| Conclusion: bargaining with the devil | 129 | ||
| Notes | 130 | ||
| References | 131 | ||
| 6 Transitions to work and the making of neoliberal selves: growing up in (the former) East Germany | 135 | ||
| Contextualizing risk | 135 | ||
| Figure 6.1 Map of Germany | 136 | ||
| Table 6.1 Summary of focus groups in the Leipzig study | 138 | ||
| Figure 6.2 Regenerated turn-of-century housing in Leipzig’s South East | 146 | ||
| Figure 6.3 High-rise area in Leipzig West | 147 | ||
| Individualization and governmentality | 139 | ||
| Tackling uncertainty | 144 | ||
| Figure 6.2 Regenerated turn-of-century housing in Leipzig’s South East (Südvorstadt) | 146 | ||
| Figure 6.3 High-rise area in Leipzig West (Grünau) | 147 | ||
| Figure 6.4 Shopping street in the centre of Leipzig | 151 | ||
| Governing the self | 153 | ||
| Conclusion | 159 | ||
| Notes | 161 | ||
| References | 161 | ||
| 7 The emergence of a working poor: labour markets, neoliberalization and diverse economies in post-socialist cities | 164 | ||
| Figure 7.1 Map of Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland | 166 | ||
| Figure 7.2 Map of Petržalka, Bratislava, Slovakia | 167 | ||
| Figure 7.3 Osiedle Przy Arce, one of Nowa Huta’s neighbourhoods | 168 | ||
| Figure 7.4 View of Petržalka from the old town quarter of Bratislava | 169 | ||
| Transformation and the neoliberalization of labour markets | 170 | ||
| Table 7.1 Average wages in Slovakia and Poland | 171 | ||
| Table 7.2 Sectoral employment change, Bratislava and Kraków, 1993–2005 | 174 | ||
| Negotiating segmented labour markets and the emergence of in-work poverty | 175 | ||
| Table 7.3 Employment structure of households in Petržalka and Nowa Huta relative to ‘at risk’ of poverty levels | 176 | ||
| Figure 7.5 Occupational profile of household members relative to relative poverty risk levels, Petržalka and Nowa Huta, 2005 | 177 | ||
| Table 7.4 Average monthly income for households with different employment structures | 178 | ||
| Table 7.5 Gender and occupational structure in Nowa Huta and Petržalka | 179 | ||
| Figure 7.6 Arcelor Mittal in Nowa Huta, still employing approximately 6,000 workers | 181 | ||
| Figure 7.6 Arcelor Mittal in Nowa Huta | 181 | ||
| Articulations beyond the formal labour market | 182 | ||
| Table 7.6 Average proportion of income derived from various sources | 183 | ||
| Conclusion | 192 | ||
| Notes | 195 | ||
| References | 195 | ||
| 8 Difference without dominance: social justice and the (neoliberal) economy in urban development | 199 | ||
| Figure 8.1 Map of Durban showing the Ntuzuma district | 201 | ||
| Economic subjectivities | 203 | ||
| Seeing difference in the economy | 205 | ||
| Figure 8.2 Informal economic activities in Ntuzuma district | 208 | ||
| Dislodging and decentring the perceived location of generative economic activities | 216 | ||
| Conclusion | 222 | ||
| Notes | 224 | ||
| References | 224 | ||
| Conclusion: Neoliberalization, social justice and resistance | 228 | ||
| The diverse processes of neoliberalization | 231 | ||
| Neoliberalism and its others | 234 | ||
| The spatialities of neoliberalism | 237 | ||
| Peripheral neoliberalisms | 238 | ||
| Neoliberalism and social justice | 240 | ||
| References | 242 | ||
| Contributors | 243 | ||
| Index | 248 |