Neoliberal Feminism and the Discourse of Self-Improvement

Ferri analyzes women's self-help literature through feminist discourse analysis, examining how neoliberal feminism promotes gender equality via self-improvement. Key for linguistics, education, gender studies researchers.

Neoliberal Feminism and the Discourse of Self-Improvement utilises feminist

critical discourse analysis to examine the language and narratives within self-help

literature targeted at women.

Giuliana Ferri critically explores the discourse of self-improvement, focusing

on how neoliberal values of empowerment and individual fulfilment have been

co-opted by elite feminism as a “technology of the self”. She unpacks how this

discourse constructs an idealised image of the “empowered woman”—one who

is portrayed as capable of overcoming patriarchy through the affirmation of

innate strength and resilience. Drawing on Marxist feminism and feminist

social reproduction theory, the book highlights how neoliberal feminism markets

women as entrepreneurs, “badass feminists”, and successful working

mothers, all while obscuring the realities of increasing work precarization and

flexibilisation in post-industrial societies.

Through its feminist critical discourse analysis, the book reveals how these

seemingly empowering narratives shift the responsibility for systemic change

onto individuals, rather than positioning feminism as a collective, anti-capitalist

movement for liberation. By integrating applied linguistics with Marxist feminism

and social reproduction theory, this text provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective,

making it a key reading for scholars and students of language, gender,

and economic systems.

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