Screen-shot: Iron cage.
In order to understand the times that we are going through, we should go back to concepts such as Max Weber's iron cage and Karl Marx’s alienation. While neoliberalism and populism are perceived as conflicting narratives, they share some common elements, such as economism (policies and choices are assessed almost exclusively on the basis of their ability to provide material welfare), individualism (i.e. the mere freedom to choose how to access material welfare, as opposed to individuality i.e. the ability to freely decide on what makes a good life) and conformism (for instance, through consumerism). Economism, individualism ( as opposed to individuality), and conformism…
Most people usually refer to values such as freedom and nation almost exclusively in a partisan way, for the benefit of who holds capital and political power, i.e. monetary and symbolic resources. Even when citizens genuinely believe in principles such as social justice and multiculturalism, they seem unable to discursively spread these values to the rest of society.
