Activity: Academic Talks or Presentations › Conference Presentation
Description
This paper explores how neoliberal principles of individualism influence perceptions of value in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013) by Mohsin Hamid and The White Tiger (2008) by Aravind Adiga.
Neoliberalism signifies the intrusion of a dominant logic of commodification that reduces everything to the realm of the market. Therefore, depictions of the neoliberal individual are exemplified in the figure of the entrepreneur, who embodies values of personal responsibility, economic rationality, and utility maximisation.
At its base level, value is defined by self-enrichment at the explicit expense of others in the fictional neoliberal economy. The White Tiger and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia invert classical liberalism’s emphasis on political liberty to focalise the concept of financial sovereignty, wielding satire and parody to push neoliberal rationality to its logical extremes.
Period
26 May 2023
Event title
(Re)Imagining Value: An Interdisciplinary Symposium