In the framework of the Political Thought Lecture Series,
the Advanced Certificate in Political Thought program cordially invites you to
Neoliberal Inventions of the Sovereign Consumer and the Making of the Contemporary Political Paradigm
a talk by
Niklas Olsen
University of Copenhagen
Political institutions of the Western World claim to govern their populations in ways that unleash and enhance the societal potential of the sovereign consumer. However, little is known about how and when the figure of the sovereign consumer became the ruling paradigm of contemporary politics, or about the governing agendas that have been pursued in its name. This talk illuminates how the sovereign consumer has been constructed and used for governing purposes in the Western World from the interwar period until today. It argues that the figure of the sovereign consumer is closely linked to the history of neoliberal thought, and that is has functioned as a driver of a new political paradigm that subjects democratic values to the pursuit of narrow economic ideals.