Premium
Subjectivation processes and gender in a neoliberal model of science in three Spanish research centres
Author(s) -
Vayreda Agnès,
Conesa Ester,
RevellesBenavente Beatriz,
González Ramos Ana M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12360
Subject(s) - rationality , sociology , context (archaeology) , excellence , subject (documents) , epistemology , resistance (ecology) , subjectivity , neoliberalism (international relations) , corporate governance , gender studies , social science , management , paleontology , library science , computer science , economics , biology , ecology , philosophy
From a Foucauldian approach, neoliberal rationality in science can be understood as a form of governance of the self that produces mechanisms through which the subject is constructed and subordinated at the same time. In this study we examine subjectivation processes and gender in centres of research created under neoliberal scientific rationality. We analyse 19 semi‐structured interviews of men and women researchers conducted in three highly competitive centres of excellence — a context rarely addressed in the literature of academic subjectivities. Following a critical discourse analysis, we show how subjectivation processes of neoliberal rationality result in two main discursive mechanisms of subjection that prevent or hinder alternative subjectivities and collective resistance, especially for women, presenting a double turn that we call: a ‘turn on oneself’ and a ‘gendered turn on oneself’. We conclude that these centres are spaces which provide the conditions of possibility to develop a scientific entrepreneurial self, excluding ‘other’ scientific subjectivities and preventing possible resistances that could emerge from them.