The Feminization of Market Discourse and Lara's Presentation on "Decluttering and the New Disaster Economy"

In John Clarke's article "After Neo-Liberalism?" I found the dual meaning of depression with regards to markets quite interesting, especially considering Lara's presentation last week, "Hoarding and Decluttering: The New Disaster Economy." Clarke's notions of the feminization of market discourse and the question of faith in regards to market magic become particularly relevant here. 

Lara outlined a culture of hoarding and decluttering in both a historical and economic context - framing the culture as a consequence of a recession era versus a post-recession era. How might that link to Clarke's inquiry of after neoliberalism? 

Furthermore, in considering the dual meaning of depression in regards to markets, the mental health and well-being component of her analysis of hoarding and decluttering is further emphasized. Clarke frames depression as a "specified trend in economic activity" where the economy experiences "profound and prolonged slumps," and depression as "describing mental state, emotional moods or clinical conditions" (378). 

The linking of economy with emotion, as Clarke notes, brings about an feminization of market discourse, in which traditional market discourse is in a way "demasculinized" - in which the discourse shifts from masculine to feminine. This reflects a feminization of the market, a sort of devaluing and loss of faith in the market, a way of linking the market to ill-being a opposed to well being, to sickness as opposed to good health. It reminds me of the discussion at the beginning of the semester about the "feminization" of mass culture and post-feminism (Modleski, McRobbie). This directly connects to Lara's presentation last week. Here, Lara's gendered and post-feminist analysis of mental health and well-being ties in quite obviously with Clarke's notion of feminization of market discourse. 

Lara brought gender into her analysis, in where the culture of decluttering and the new economic intervention surrounding this culture are directly linked to gender. The pathology of clutter is tied into the body, health, and well-being, in which the economic interventions of decluttering have produced a industry of decluttering based on a logic of therapy in which feminized forms of labor have emerged.

Finally, and probably more personally, I really found the concept of pessimism particularly interesting in that this is something that has come up for me throughout my first year in grad school. I feel like the more we read about the Cultural Studies project, the more pessimistic we become. It seems that the Cultural Studies project, in its attempt to address these "crises," on one hand really succeeds in  unraveling the problems and what's at stake, but on the other hand really struggles in providing solutions, resulting into a sort of dooming pessimism. 

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On a side note: The readings made me think of Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." For that reason, I want to share a music video by Ana Tijoux, a chilean hip-hop artist. 

This song in particular is called "Shock" and addresses the growing resistance in Chile regarding it's loss of faith in market magic ideology, as established by the U.S. The song is in Spanish, but you can find a translation here. 

It is quite literally a manifestation of Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" in the form of a hip-hop song.