ABSTRACT
The personal crisis of the neoliberal subject evolved into a means of distracting from the deeper systemic issues afflicting the contemporary hyper-capitalist order. The diverse discourses represented a shared ethos centered on individuals taking personal ethical responsibility for their own fate and that of their wider society. The interconnected discourses point toward a more pernicious ideal of neoliberalism revolving around personal morality: any and all systemic constraints can be overcome with the proper moral willpower. Neoliberalism is confronted, then, with a crisis that is as much economic as it is existential. There is a clear and present ethical problem with neoliberalism. The aftermath of the financial crisis brought to the fore deep concerns over neoliberalism's impact on individuals. The ethics and the celebration of individual rights within neoliberalism may be straightforward. The moral and ethical critiques levied at neoliberalism transformed into moral and ethical demands placed on individuals themselves.
