A household full of bodies: Neoliberalism, Care and “the political”

This article explores “the political” of political economy through an analysis of neoliberalised care. Borrowing Glyn Daly’s metaphor of the political economy as a disorganised household, where the “political” disrupts the neat order of the oikonomia, we argue that in neoliberalism care is a central site of the political. Through Foucauldian biopolitics we define commodification as a central logic in the governance of care, and situate it in the wider context of neoliberal governmentality. Conceptualising care as a corporeal relation, and following Annemarie Mol’s logic of care, we show how, despite the constant attempts to domesticate it, the hegemonic discourse fails to fully subsume care within the “order of the household”. Examining the ruptures produced when care resists its governance, the article demonstrates how the corporeal relatedness of care continues to open up spaces for the political, hence ensuring that the economy remains political.