Page 59 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 59
Neoliberalism as Political Discourse:
The Political Arithmetic of Homo oeconomicus
Michael A. Peters
Of all ‘discourse’, governed by desire of knowledge there is at last an
‘end’, either by attaining or by giving over. And in the chain of discourse,
wheresoever it be interrupted, there is an end for that time. If the dis-
course be merely mental, it consisteth of thoughts that the thing will be,
and will not be; or that it has been, and has not been, alternately. So that
wheresoever you break off the chain of a man’s discourse, you leave him
a presumption of ‘it will be,’ or ‘it will not be,’ or ‘it has been,’ or ‘has not
been.’
Hobbes (2009) Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, p. 22. Cited in
Hasse (2007)
Introduction: Genealogy of Political Discourse
The Middle English discours comes from the Medieval Latin discur-
sus, meaning argument argument, or conversation, although it does
also have the connotation in Latin of the act of running about,
from discurrere (dis- + currere to run). The late Middle English denotes
the process of reasoning and adds the sense of a verbal exchange of ideas,
or more precisely, a formal and orderly and usually extended expression of
thought on a subject as a means of organizing knowledge and experience
rooted both in language and history. Critical discourse thus refers to the
capacity of discourse to order our thoughts on a topic or institution in a
rational way. This exemplifies the use of Hobbes in the opening quotation
where refers to the chain of discourse ‘governed by the desire of knowl-
edge’. It was also commonplace in the late 17th century when ‘political dis-
course’ became an established branch of discourse that dealt with and the-
orised civil society in relation to its principles and prime elements. The
conception of political discourse and its analysis was revived in the twen-
tieth century especially in the work of Michael Foucault and those fol-
lowing him (such as Fairclough, and Ball) turn political discourse into a
specific mode of theoretical analysis for understanding politics and policy
more specifically. Political discourse analysis has also been put to good use
in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s blended Marxist, poststructural-
ist, and psychoanalytic theory (Torfing, 1999; Smith, 1998). In particular,
there was an explosion of interest in discourse theory with the production
of leadings texts by the critical historian Hayden White (1978) who wrote
57
The Political Arithmetic of Homo oeconomicus
Michael A. Peters
Of all ‘discourse’, governed by desire of knowledge there is at last an
‘end’, either by attaining or by giving over. And in the chain of discourse,
wheresoever it be interrupted, there is an end for that time. If the dis-
course be merely mental, it consisteth of thoughts that the thing will be,
and will not be; or that it has been, and has not been, alternately. So that
wheresoever you break off the chain of a man’s discourse, you leave him
a presumption of ‘it will be,’ or ‘it will not be,’ or ‘it has been,’ or ‘has not
been.’
Hobbes (2009) Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, p. 22. Cited in
Hasse (2007)
Introduction: Genealogy of Political Discourse
The Middle English discours comes from the Medieval Latin discur-
sus, meaning argument argument, or conversation, although it does
also have the connotation in Latin of the act of running about,
from discurrere (dis- + currere to run). The late Middle English denotes
the process of reasoning and adds the sense of a verbal exchange of ideas,
or more precisely, a formal and orderly and usually extended expression of
thought on a subject as a means of organizing knowledge and experience
rooted both in language and history. Critical discourse thus refers to the
capacity of discourse to order our thoughts on a topic or institution in a
rational way. This exemplifies the use of Hobbes in the opening quotation
where refers to the chain of discourse ‘governed by the desire of knowl-
edge’. It was also commonplace in the late 17th century when ‘political dis-
course’ became an established branch of discourse that dealt with and the-
orised civil society in relation to its principles and prime elements. The
conception of political discourse and its analysis was revived in the twen-
tieth century especially in the work of Michael Foucault and those fol-
lowing him (such as Fairclough, and Ball) turn political discourse into a
specific mode of theoretical analysis for understanding politics and policy
more specifically. Political discourse analysis has also been put to good use
in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s blended Marxist, poststructural-
ist, and psychoanalytic theory (Torfing, 1999; Smith, 1998). In particular,
there was an explosion of interest in discourse theory with the production
of leadings texts by the critical historian Hayden White (1978) who wrote
57
