Universität Wien
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210113 VO M8: Gender, neoliberalism (2025W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Moodle

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Details

Sprache: Englisch

Prüfungstermine

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

***THE FIRST LECTURE WILL TAKE PLACE ON OCTOBER 16

  • Donnerstag 09.10. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 16.10. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 23.10. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 30.10. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 06.11. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 13.11. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 20.11. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 27.11. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 04.12. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 11.12. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 18.12. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 08.01. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 15.01. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Donnerstag 22.01. 18:45 - 20:15 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

Note: The lecture will be in English.

Contents:

“Neoliberalism” is one of the most contested and overused terms in political and cultural debate. This course aims at providing precision to students’ understandings of neoliberalism. It introduces students to the variety of ways neoliberalism has been theorized: as a set of economic ideas, as a political project of state transformation, and as a mode of producing subjects and shaping everyday life. We will also explore how feminist and queer theorists have engaged with neoliberalism, both critically and strategically, and how neoliberal rationalities have reshaped feminist and queer politics, activism, and imaginaries.

Part I introduces neoliberalism as an intellectual and political project, tracing its development from mid-20th century economic thought to its consolidation in statecraft and citizenship.

Part II turns to welfare reform and the crisis of social reproduction, examining how neoliberalism reorganized state–citizen relations, redefined empowerment, and restructured care, with particular attention to gender and migration.

Part III asks how we might theorize the present: is the language of “illiberalism” adequate? If authoritarian and debt-driven logics have already been intrinsic to neoliberalism, what is new – if at all- in the present? Finally, can the intensifying crisis open spaces for new politics and alternative imaginaries?

Methods: Lecture and discussion.

By the end of this course, students will:
- understand different approaches to theorizing neoliberalism
- Understand feminist and queer approaches to critiques of neoliberalism
- Identify how contemporary politics and policy are shaped by neoliberalism
- Consider whether, since 2008, we have entered a new stage in neoliberalism

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The course is a lecture course. Students should read assigned readings in advance, and are advised to attend lectures which will be theoretically dense.

The professor discourages laptops in class, which are mainly a source of distraction and with little pedagogical benefit.

The lecture hall will be divided into 'zones.' Front rows are for students without laptops. Back rows are for students who have brought laptops. This ensures that those in the front rows are not distracted by laptop activities, and leaves it to students to determine what they prefer.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Assessment Method: Online In-Class Exam (with Safe Exam Browser)(NOT Open Book)

A final in-class exam, based on short essay questions. No additional tools allowed (except for a dictionary and for students with special needs.)
Students will either have to bring their own laptops or can book a seat in a computer lab (on Moodle or via sophia.krauss@univie.ac.at) where they can write the exam online in a Safe Exam Browser.

Mandatory materials to pass the exam: Presentation, PPTs, mandatory literature (to be found below for each unit)

There will be four opportunities to take the exam. You have to register separately as usual.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

Exam format:

Part I – Short Answers (answer 3 out of 4 questions)
Each answer: up to 20 points
Total: 60 points

Part II – Long Essay (1 required question, no choice)
Essay: up to 40 points
Total: 40 points

Total Marks: 100 points

Assessment Criteria
Excellent – accurate, detailed, nuanced; shows strong preparation and comprehension.
Good – mostly accurate, but missing some detail/nuance; and/or slight misunderstanding of material.
Reasonable – partial understanding, somewhat superficial.
Poor – minimal effort, significant misunderstanding or missing material.
Bad/Fail – does not understand ideas, has not read materials or prepared, or plagiarized, or leaves empty/writes a few random sentences

Grading Scheme

1 (excellent) 100 – 90 points
2 (good) 89 – 81 points
3 (satisfactory) 80 – 71 points
4 (sufficient) 70 - 61 points
5 (insufficient) 60 – 0 point

Prüfungsstoff

Lectures.

PPTs and Mandatory Literature (to be found on Moodle for each unit).

Literatur

Detailed Semester Plan:

Oct. 16: Neoliberalism as an Intellectual Project — Ideas, Networks, Alliances
Mandatory Reading: Mirowski, Philip. 2013. Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown. London: Verso. (Excerpt: pp. 50-70, 83-88).
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Oct. 23: Neoliberalism as a Political Project — From the Right to the Center-Left
Mandatory Reading: Jessop, Bob. 1993. “Towards a Schumpeterian Workfare State? Preliminary Remarks on Post-Fordist Political Economy.” Studies in Political Economy 40: 7–39.
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Oct. 30: Remaking Welfare States and Social Citizenship
Mandatory Reading: Jenson, Jane, and Denis Saint-Martin. 2003. “New Routes to Social Cohesion? Citizenship and the Social Investment State.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 28 (1): 77–99. doi:10.2307/3341876.
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Nov. 6: Neoliberalism and the Care Crisis; Guest lecturer, Dr. Ayşe Dursun
Mandatory Reading: Fraser, Nancy. 2017. “Crisis of Care? On the Social-Reproductive Contradictions of Contemporary Capitalism.” In: Battacharya, Tithi (Hg.): Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression. London, 21-36.
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Nov. 13: Migration and the Care Crisis — Femonationalism and Transnational Care Work
Mandatory Reading: Farris, Sara. 2012. “Femonationalism and the ‘Regular’ Army of Labor Called Migrant Women.” History of the Present: A Journal of Critical History 2 (2): 184–199.
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Nov. 20: “Diversity” and the Neoliberalization of Feminist and Queer Politics
Mandatory Reading: Rottenberg, Catherine. 2018. “The Neoliberal Feminist.” In The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism, Heretical Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. Online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 Aug. 2018. https://doi-org.uaccess.univie.ac.at/10.1093/oso/9780190901226.003.0003
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Nov. 27: What is Illiberalism?
Mandatory reading: Laruelle, Marlene. 2022. “Illiberalism: A Conceptual Introduction.” East European Politics 38 (2): 303–27.
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Dec. 4: Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism — Is Illiberalism Enough?
Mandatory Reading: Gallo, Enzo. 2022. “Three Varieties of Authoritarian Neoliberalism: Rule by the Experts, the People, the Leader.” Competition & Change 26 (5): 554–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294211038425
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Dec. 11: Debt, Financialization, and Intensified Crisis
Mandatory Readings: Cavallero, Lucí, Verónica Gago, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Liz Mason-Deese. 2021. A Feminist Reading of Debt. London: Pluto Press. (Selections: p. 5-36).
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Dec. 18: Feminist Struggles in a New Political Reality; Guest lecturer, Dr. Firoozeh Farvardin
Mandatory Reading: Farvardin, Firoozeh. 2025. “Why Do We ‘Care’? Neoliberal Governance and the Emergence of the Feminist Subject in Iran.” In Resisting Far-Right Politics in the Middle East and Europe: Queer Feminist Critiques, edited by Tunay Altay, Nadje Al-Ali, and Katharina Galor. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/jj.17381627.15

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

Letzte Änderung: Fr 13.02.2026 12:26