John Gray is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Education at University College London. His research interests are in the global spread of English; the ways in which neoliberal ideology plays out in language teaching and language teacher education; language teacher identity; and issues of gender and sexuality in language teaching and beyond. Recent publications include: Education and the Discourse of Global Neoliberalism (2021), published by Routledge and edited with John O'Regan and Cathie Wallace; Social Interaction and English Language Teacher Identity(2018), published by Edinburgh University Press and co-written with Tom Morton; and a special issue of Gender and Language (2018) on intersectionality, language and queer lives, co-edited with Melanie Cooke.

ABSTRACT

BEYOND FOUCAULT: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RESEARCHING LANGUAGE AND NEOLIBERAL SUBJECTIVITY

While recognising the contribution of Foucault's concept of governmentality to the study of the subjective experience of neoliberalism, following Brown (2019), Moskowitz (2019) and Park (2021), I take the view that such a perspective needs to be complemented by a political economy perspective indebted to Marx, as well as benefitting from a consideration of Goffman's theorisation of shame. In doing this I will draw on interview data gathered by my co-writer Steven Yeung in Hong Kong and our application of a multitheoretical perspective to the data.

Brown, W. (2019) In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: the rise of antidemocratic politics in the west. NY: Columbia University Press

Moskowitz, A (2019) ‘The production of the subject: Foucault, Marx and the ontology of the market’.Polygraph 27.

Park, J. (2021)In Pursuit of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.