What Is Neoliberalism? [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Leigh Campoamor | 2 Weeks | Sundays June 9 & 16 | 3:00-5:30 PM ET | IN PERSON, 719 N Mangum St., Durham, NC
We hear the word “neoliberalism” all the time to describe our contemporary capitalist moment, but it can feel like a technical term or even a buzz word. What even is neoliberalism? According to Julie Wilson, it is “a set of social, cultural, and political-economic forces that puts competition at the center of social life.” This means that the government invests not in the care of its citizens but, instead, in promoting markets. This “new liberalism” isn’t aligned with progressive politics or people’s liberation, but rather uses “liberal” to refer to the freedom of the market. Over the course of two sessions, we will explore how neoliberalism, a concept that was invented by a group of Western elites in the 1930s, and implemented for the first time in the 1970s, has become globally hegemonic. How is neoliberalism different from “classic” liberalism and earlier forms of capitalism? We will trace neoliberalism’s conceptual origins in debates about the role of the state in relation to capitalist development. We will examine how neoliberalism restructured the global economy and, subsequently, people’s everyday lives, in the post-Cold War era. And we will connect this to how neoliberalism works as a technology of the self, rendering us individual market actors responsible for our own well being and survival. Ultimately, we are all neoliberal subjects. But what if we don’t want to be? Can we get out of neoliberalism? How might we mobilize our holistic understanding of the ways neoliberalism links us all through insecurity and competition to collectively imagine otherwise?
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.