Vulnerable resilience: the politics of vulnerability as a self-improvement discourse

Ciccone, Vanessa (2020) Vulnerable resilience: the politics of vulnerability as a self-improvement discourse. Feminist Media Studies, 20 (8). 1315 - 1318. ISSN 1468-0777

Text (“Vulnerable” resilience: the politics of vulnerability as a self-improvement discourse) - Accepted Version Download (152kB)

• Author

Abstract

Resilience has become a central aspect of self-improvement within neoliberal societies. In the present essay, I draw from recent critical scholarship on resilience to investigate vulnerability as an emergent self-improvement discourse. I analyse two popularised videos that profile Brené Brown, a figurehead of vulnerability as a means of resilience-building. I argue that these videos circulate ideas about how to enact “vulnerability,” acting as powerful pedagogical resources that instruct subjects to turn within and work on themselves. Although practicing vulnerability may lead to certain social rewards, it compels subjects to orient their psychic lives toward an individuating sense of self, bringing a myriad of consequences. Below, I assess what is at stake when vulnerability is mobilised as a relational tool located within resilience.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfms20/current
Additional Information:	© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2020 12:54
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2024 21:09
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/106701

Actions (login required)

View Item