Neoliberalism reified: suzhi discourse and tropes of neoliberalism in the People's Republic of China

Since the mid-1990s, 'neoliberalism' has grown in importance as an explanatory trope for socio-cultural anthropologists. This article seeks to unravel the various strands of neoliberalism's anthropological meaning and demonstrate the blind spots of using neoliberalism as an overarchin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2007-06, Vol.13 (2), p.383-400
Main Author: Kipnis, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropologists
Anthropology
Area studies
Capitalism
China
Chinese culture
Cultural anthropology
Cultural heritage
Cultural values
Discourse
Discourse analysis
Economic liberalism
Economic policy
Governance
Humanity
Liberalism
Neoliberalism
Peoples Republic of China
Political anthropology
Political culture
Political discourse
Social change
Society
Sociology of culture
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Since the mid-1990s, 'neoliberalism' has grown in importance as an explanatory trope for socio-cultural anthropologists. This article seeks to unravel the various strands of neoliberalism's anthropological meaning and demonstrate the blind spots of using neoliberalism as an overarching trope. I begin by analysing the contradictions between two common forms of theorizing neoliberalism. The remainder of the article then focuses the initial discussion by examining a particular case: suzhi discourse in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Suzhi may be glossed as human quality, and suzhi discourse refers to the myriad ways in which this notion of human quality is used in processes of governing contemporary China. I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments of those who explain suzhi discourse in terms of neoliberalism and suggest ways in which this discourse might be contextualized more fruitfully than as a form of neoliberalism. / Depuis le milieu des années 199o, le « néolibéralisme » est un motif explicatif de plus en plus fréquent en anthropologie socioculturelle. L'auteur cherche ici à démêler les différentes significations anthropologiques du néolibéralisme et à en pointer les angles morts lorsqu'il est utilisé comme métaphore générale. Il commence par analyser les contradictions entre deux formes courantes de théorie du néolibéralisme. Le reste de l'article est consacré à la discussion initiale, avec l'examen d'un cas particulier : le discours du suzhi en République populaire de Chine. On peut interpréter le suzhi comme la qualité humaine, et le discours du suzhi renvoie aux multiples moyens d'utiliser cette notion de qualité humaine dans le processus de gouvernement de la Chine contemporaine. L'auteur évoque les points forts et les faiblesses des arguments qui visent à expliquer le discours du suzhi en termes de néolibéralisme, et suggère des manières de contextualiser ce discours qui seraient plus fécondes.
ISSN:1359-0987
1467-9655
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00432.x