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Corporate Mindfulness Culture and Neoliberalism

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  • Mary V. Wrenn

Abstract

Corporate mindfulness is the favorite labor management technique of the neoliberal period. The formalized packaging of corporate mindfulness began in the late 1970s but was built on a long tradition of attempts to hack the minds of workers in the United States. What distinguishes these previous attempts from corporate mindfulness is the strong ideological connection between corporate mindfulness and neoliberalism, the ideological operant of this modern stage of capitalism. This research establishes and explores that connection and the contradictions wrought by it, by examining the ways in which workers’ stress, anxieties, and complaints are elided and workers are instead subjected to the directed introspection of corporate mindfulness programs and further socialized to understand the workplace as community. JEL Classification: B52, Z12, N00

Suggested Citation

  • Mary V. Wrenn, 2022. "Corporate Mindfulness Culture and Neoliberalism," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 153-170, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:54:y:2022:i:2:p:153-170
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134211063521
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 1911. "The Principles of Scientific Management," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number taylor1911.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin Deane & Julia Chukwuma, 2025. "Introducing Economics Students to Marxist Political Economy: Mental and Physical Health in the Workplace," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 485-494, September.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

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