ABSTRACT
Neoliberalisation is a social process involving the transformation of the state to meet, maintain and cater to capitalist markets. Neoliberalisation transforms a welfare state to a competition state, with specific implications for individuals as workers and as citizens. Instrumentality , closely aligned with the principle of commodification, refers to how people and resources are valued: ‘in neoliberalism, everything becomes instrumental to generate profit, including labour and people in organizations’. The transformation of a regulated, welfare state economy to a neoliberal political economy and the parallel transformation in citizen subjectivity requires that ‘attention is paid to those social institutions and practices avowedly charged with the management of subjective life’. Neoliberal health care supports and reinforces a particular kind of subject/patient who views illness in reductionist terms and consumes services and goods while pursuing the duty to be well.
