The lecture is cancelled. We are sorry for the inconvinience.
It has been widely argued that Western neoliberalism is not merely a political project set forth by a set of economic doctrines. Neoliberalism, the scholarship suggests, is also ideological in that it is aimed, first and foremost, at the bodies and souls of its subjects, pushing them to be not only active-yet-responsible consumers, but also, as Foucault suggested, a human capital, entrepreneurs of their own selves. This talk will focus on the molding of such entrepreneurial subjectivities in the sexual sphere. Based on interviews with middle class heterosexuals in Israel, it will be suggested that under neoliberalism, a new sexual disposition has emerged for and by the middle class. Recreational sexuality jettisons pleasure and is directed, instead, towards raising one's self-appreciation and hence, as will be explained, also middle-class employability in a highly competitive employment market.
Dana Kaplan is a cultural sociologist from the Open University of Israel, specializing in middle class culture and subjectification.
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