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Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice

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Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice. / Pedwell, Carolyn.
In: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 30, No. 2, 30.04.2012, p. 280-297.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Pedwell, C 2012, 'Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 280-297. https://doi.org/10.1068/d22710

APA

Pedwell, C. (2012). Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 30(2), 280-297. https://doi.org/10.1068/d22710

Vancouver

Pedwell C. Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 2012 Apr 30;30(2):280-297. Epub 2012 Jan 1. doi: 10.1068/d22710

Author

Pedwell, Carolyn. / Economies of Empathy : Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice. In: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 2012 ; Vol. 30, No. 2. pp. 280-297.

Bibtex

@article{2b18f7dff7314ba5a3d8f323513337fe,
title = "Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice",
abstract = "This paper asks how we might theorise the politics of empathy in a context in which visions of social justice premised on empathetic engagement need to be situated within prevailing neoliberal frameworks. Through reading the ambivalent grammar of President Obama's emotional rhetoric, I examine how it resonates in different ways both with feminist and antiracist debates about empathy and social justice and with the neoliberal discourse of the {\textquoteleft}empathy economy{\textquoteright} expressed within popular business literatures. I argue that, in framing empathy as a competency to be developed by individuals alongside imperatives to become more risk-taking and self-enterprising, Obama's rhetoric reveals its centrist neoliberal underpinnings and risks (re)producing social and geopolitical exclusions and hierarchies. Yet, I suggest that seeing the phenomenon of {\textquoteleft}Obama-mania{\textquoteright} as produced not only within discourses of neoliberal governmentality but also through more radical intersections of empathy, hope, and imagination illustrates how empathy might be conceptualised as an affective portal to different spaces and times of social justice.",
author = "Carolyn Pedwell",
year = "2012",
month = apr,
day = "30",
doi = "10.1068/d22710",
language = "English",
volume = "30",
pages = "280--297",
journal = "Environment and Planning D: Society and Space",
issn = "0263-7758",
publisher = "Pion Ltd.",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Economies of Empathy

T2 - Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice

AU - Pedwell, Carolyn

PY - 2012/4/30

Y1 - 2012/4/30

N2 - This paper asks how we might theorise the politics of empathy in a context in which visions of social justice premised on empathetic engagement need to be situated within prevailing neoliberal frameworks. Through reading the ambivalent grammar of President Obama's emotional rhetoric, I examine how it resonates in different ways both with feminist and antiracist debates about empathy and social justice and with the neoliberal discourse of the ‘empathy economy’ expressed within popular business literatures. I argue that, in framing empathy as a competency to be developed by individuals alongside imperatives to become more risk-taking and self-enterprising, Obama's rhetoric reveals its centrist neoliberal underpinnings and risks (re)producing social and geopolitical exclusions and hierarchies. Yet, I suggest that seeing the phenomenon of ‘Obama-mania’ as produced not only within discourses of neoliberal governmentality but also through more radical intersections of empathy, hope, and imagination illustrates how empathy might be conceptualised as an affective portal to different spaces and times of social justice.

AB - This paper asks how we might theorise the politics of empathy in a context in which visions of social justice premised on empathetic engagement need to be situated within prevailing neoliberal frameworks. Through reading the ambivalent grammar of President Obama's emotional rhetoric, I examine how it resonates in different ways both with feminist and antiracist debates about empathy and social justice and with the neoliberal discourse of the ‘empathy economy’ expressed within popular business literatures. I argue that, in framing empathy as a competency to be developed by individuals alongside imperatives to become more risk-taking and self-enterprising, Obama's rhetoric reveals its centrist neoliberal underpinnings and risks (re)producing social and geopolitical exclusions and hierarchies. Yet, I suggest that seeing the phenomenon of ‘Obama-mania’ as produced not only within discourses of neoliberal governmentality but also through more radical intersections of empathy, hope, and imagination illustrates how empathy might be conceptualised as an affective portal to different spaces and times of social justice.

U2 - 10.1068/d22710

DO - 10.1068/d22710

M3 - Journal article

VL - 30

SP - 280

EP - 297

JO - Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

JF - Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

SN - 0263-7758

IS - 2

ER -