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Austerity and the embodiment of neoliberalism as ill-health: Towards a theory of biological sub-citizenship

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  • Sparke, Matthew

Abstract

This article charts the diverse pathways through which austerity and other policy shifts associated with neoliberalism have come to be embodied globally in ill-health. It combines a review of research on these processes of embodiment with the development of a theory of the resulting forms of biological sub-citizenship. This theory builds on other studies that have already sought to complement and complicate the concept of biological citizenship with attention to the globally uneven experience and embodiment of bioinequalities. Focused on the unevenly embodied sequelae of austerity, the proceeding theorization of biological sub-citizenship is developed in three stages of review and conceptualization: 1) Biological sub-citizenship through exclusion and conditionalization; 2) Biological sub-citizenship through extraction and exploitation; and 3) Biological sub-citizenship through financialized experimentation. In conclusion the paper argues that the analysis of biological sub-citizenship needs to remain open-ended and relational in order to contribute to socially-searching work on the social determinants of health.

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  • Sparke, Matthew, 2017. "Austerity and the embodiment of neoliberalism as ill-health: Towards a theory of biological sub-citizenship," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 287-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:187:y:2017:i:c:p:287-295
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.027
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    3. Lisa Jamieson & Joanne Hedges & Sheri McKinstry & Pauline Koopu & Kamilla Venner, 2020. "How Neoliberalism Shapes Indigenous Oral Health Inequalities Globally: Examples from Five Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Louvel, Séverine & Soulier, Alexandra, 2022. "Biological embedding vs. embodiment of social experiences: How these two concepts form distinct thought styles around the social production of health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    5. Whittle, Henry J. & Palar, Kartika & Ranadive, Nikhil A. & Turan, Janet M. & Kushel, Margot & Weiser, Sheri D., 2017. "“The land of the sick and the land of the healthy”: Disability, bureaucracy, and stigma among people living with poverty and chronic illness in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 181-189.
    6. Owain David Williams, 2020. "COVID-19 and Private Health: Market and Governance Failure," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 63(2), pages 181-190, December.
    7. Danielle Araujo, 2021. "Are Neoliberalism Policies Undermining Free and Democratic Societies?," ConScienS Conference Proceedings 037da, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    8. Matthew Sparke & Owain David Williams, 2022. "Neoliberal disease: COVID-19, co-pathogenesis and global health insecurities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(1), pages 15-32, February.
    9. Key MacFarlane, 2020. "Governing the noisy sphere: Geographies of noise regulation in the US," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(3), pages 539-556, May.

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