would have helped to have more information about to run a freelance ‘how business, with yourself as the product, which is what we are’. Business language, crucially, was used in several contexts and one participant who discussed her experiences as a black musician referred to her skin colour as her her ‘USP’, unique selling point (Susan). According to Gershon (2011: 539), the view of oneself as a business designates a from the liberal vision of people owning themselves as ‘move though they were property to a neoliberal vision of people owning themselves as though they were a business’. This changes the relationship of the self to the self where becomes a subject for oneself’ (Rose, 1990: 240). By relating to ‘one itself as a business, the entrepreneurial subject establishes a distance to its self and can subsequently work on it. The resulting work on the self took on various dimensions. Julianna stated: try to well, eat well, exercise, meditate basically work on myself’. ‘I – Similarly, Kim stated that have to take care of your mental health, and if ‘you you’re down, you’ve got to just work through it’. This work on the self was constructed as an on-going activity. Resonating with Bröckling’s (2005) argument that the entrepreneurial self is in a constant mode of becoming, Janine told me that there were limits’ to self-improvement. These statements ‘no demonstrate that the self as business needs constant attention, and that various aspects of the self physical, mental and spiritual are worked upon for – – optimisation.
would have helped to have more information about ‘how to run a freelance business, with yourself as the product, which is what we are’. Business language, crucially, was used in several contexts and one participant who discussed her experiences as a black musician referred to her skin colour as her ‘USP’, her unique selling point (Susan). According to Gershon (2011: 539), the view of oneself as a business designates a ‘move from the liberal vision of people owning themselves as though they were property to a neoliberal vision of people owning themselves as though they were a business’. This changes the relationship of the self to the self where ‘one becomes a subject for oneself’ (Rose, 1990: 240). By relating to itself as a business, the entrepreneurial subject establishes a distance to its self and can subsequently work on it. The resulting work on the self took on various dimensions. Julianna stated: ‘I try to well, eat well, exercise, meditate – basically work on myself’. Similarly, Kim stated that ‘you have to take care of your mental health, and if you’re down, you’ve got to just work through it’. This work on the self was constructed as an on-going activity. Resonating with Bröckling’s (2005) argument that the entrepreneurial self is in a constant mode of becoming, Janine told me that there were ‘no limits’ to self-improvement. These statements demonstrate that the self as business needs constant attention, and that various aspects of the self – physical, mental and spiritual – are worked upon for optimisation.
The_psychic_life_of_neoliberalism_for_PURE.docx