Snåriga sårbarheter i nyliberala tider

Om relationen mellan sårbarhet, agens och nyliberalism

Abstract

A central question within contemporary gender studies is how vulnerability can be understood in more positive and politically progressive terms, rather than being posed as the opposite of resistance. The attempt to redefine vulnerability is especially present in the work of contemporary vulnerability scholars, in their pursuit to analyze and resist neo-liberal ideals and neo-liberal politics. This approach has, however, been criticized by scholars who find the tools provided by vulnerability scholars too closely tied to the neo-liberal ideals that they have set out to oppose. With the help of two empirical studies, focused on children and old people’s political agency within a Swedish context, this article elaborates on how vulnerability studies supplies/does not supply sufficient tools to study inequalities within a neo-liberal framework. The article further argues that the political significance of vulnerability, and the political efficacy of using vulnerability as a political starting point, is highly context bound and suggests that there are other, potentially more politically radical, points of departure.