%0 Journal Article
%T Speaking well: The benevolent public and rhetorical production of neoliberal political economy
%A Rebecca Dingo
%J Communication and the Public
%@ 2057-0481
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/2057047318794964
%X This essay shows how race and gender are central to the rhetorical production of neoliberal political economy. It examines how the mainstream and feminist-appearing movement for girls¡¯ empowerment is in service of the continued production of neoliberal political economy and in service of cultivating a benevolent public based on a sense of economic exceptionalism¡ªa new form of the bourgeois public sphere that values neoliberalism and positive actions of charity and goodwill taken on another¡¯s behalf. The production of neoliberal political economy and the formation of a benevolent neoliberal public sphere, particularly around girls¡¯ empowerment, is animated by racialized and gendered girl-empowerment discourses which link particular young brown bodies to arguments about girls¡¯ potential (economic and otherwise), educational aspirations, economic investment, and international security
%K Gender
%K neoliberalism
%K political economy
%K race
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2057047318794964