ABSTRACT
Like many politicized terms, “neoliberalism” evokes multiple meanings and associations. Most often, it is understood as an economic project of deregulation, privatization, and marketization. Yet neoliberalism also encompasses particular forms of governance-patterns of power and regulation that shape, guide, and manage social conduct.2 In fact, one distinctive aspect of neoliberalism is the way it combines and coordinates economic, political, and social programs. Along with economic deregulation come calls for the scaling back of state support and assistance; along with economic marketization comes a mandate to end many social programs and entitlements; and along with economic privatization comes a shift away from public responsibility and toward “self-governance.” In this way, the socioeconomic projects of neoliberalism are frequently promoted as empowerment projects-that is, as designed to enhance the participation and freedom of everyone from women to immigrants to welfare recipients to prisoners to the urban poor.3
