Sean Phelan: Friedrich Hayek and the 'social justice warrior'

This talk asks how we might think about the ideological legacy of neoliberalism in a political context where different racist, sexist and authoritarian discourses have been emboldened. I consider this question by reflecting on the neoliberalized logic of the so-called “social justice warrior,” a cultural figure that is violently ridiculed by the extreme right and sometimes a target of general critique, even for some on the political left. I develop the argument by examining the ideological and communicative affinities between Friedrich Hayek's critique of the concept of social justice and online representations of social justice warriors. Contrary to the simplistic image of neoliberalism as a fixed, unitary ideology, the talk encourages us to think of its legacy in protean and generative ways that now animate the cultural politics of social justice claims and projections.

Sean Phelan is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, NZ. He teaches and researches in the field of critical communication and media studies. He is the co-editor of Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics (2011, Palgrave Macmillan) and Scooped: The Politics and Power of Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand (2012, AUT media). His book, Neoliberalism, Media and the Political, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in November 2014.

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