The Deep Semiotic Structure of Deservingness
The Deep Semiotic Structure of Deservingness
Discourse and Identity in Neoliberal Welfare Policy
This chapter uses semiotics to suggest that combating the prevailing biases of the neoliberalized welfare state must of necessity confront how those biases are built on a deeply sedimented foundation of distinctions regarding who is to be privileged in the political economy. The chapter highlights how discourse implies identity and identities regarding who is deserving and ought to be supported, reflecting age-old distinctions that are not easily dislodged by even mass political mobilizations. The chapter concludes with consideration of how neoliberalization represents an updating that reinforces these biases and how combating neoliberalism involves attention to its historical lineages.
Keywords: welfare, neoliberalism, deserving versus undeserving, discourse, semiotics
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