Neoliberalism and Work-Related Risk: Individual or Collective Responsibilization?
Journal of Risk Research, 16 (10), 1209-1224 (2013)
30 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2015
Date Written: June 26, 2013
Abstract
Based on a representative sample of the Dutch population (N=2,467) we test four hypotheses about how utilitarian individualism influences the responsibilization of work-related risks. The risk-society hypothesis understands utilitarian individualism as a laisser-faire ideological orientation and assumes it to lead to individual responsibilization. The blame-culture hypothesis conceives utilitarian individualists as consumer-citizens and predicts the reverse – that those concerned expect to be protected by the government. The resentment hypothesis assumes that particularly utilitarian individualists with a vulnerable labour-market position individualize responsibility, because they distrust those who share their fate more than others do. The narcissism hypothesis reverses this logic, because it assumes that utilitarian individualists’ narcissistic self-centeredness entices them to make others responsible for their own risks. The two hypotheses predicting an individualization of work-related risk due to utilitarian individualism are both confirmed, whereas the two hypotheses predicting it to result in their collectivization are both rejected.
Keywords: culture of blame, narcissism, neoliberalism, reflexive modernization, resentment, utilitarian individualism, work-related risks
JEL Classification: A14, D63
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation