How Neoliberalism Profits Off Uselessness | Neil Vallelly | TMR

In Futilitarianism, Neil Vallelly explores how neoliberalism has transformed the relationship between maximizing utility and the common good. He uses contemporary examples to demonstrate how the practice of utility maximization in neoliberalism traps people in useless and repetitive behaviors that foreclose the possibility of collective happiness. The book maps the historical relationship between utilitarianism and capitalism, develops an original framework for understanding neoliberalism and recounts the lived experience of uselessness in the early 21st century. It argues that countering the futility of neoliberal existence is essential for building an egalitarian, sustainable and hopeful future.

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And we are joined Now by Neil Vallelly researcher and economic and social research note Aurora and also a lecturer of Sociology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Sorry if I butchered any of those pronunciations. Neil and also the author of the book that we're discussing today utilitarianism neoliberalism and the production of uselessness. Neil thanks so much for coming on. Hi Emma thanks so much for having me. of course and we should say joining us from New Zealand where it is Friday which is blowing our minds here at the studio. But coming from the future Neil talks about his book. Your book really touches on so many things that we try to discuss here in the majority report. You put it you know more eloquently than I could. But what I love is how you really were born. It's out of your personal experience with budget slashing to Humanities divisions at your University like social studies Etc. We've talked about this on the show before about how they're deemed indulgent or unimportant and you know go into something that'll make you money essentially because they don't sufficiently serve capitalism and in fact, they challenge many capitalist Notions. So what did You observe in your own personal experience with your profession that led you to explore this a bit more? Yeah, thanks, Emma that's very kind. Yeah yeah so basically that that's where the book started for me I finished my Ph.D. in 2015 here in New Zealand. And about six months after I finished my Ph.D. The humanities division at my University went through a series of huge cuts where lots of staff were fired. And it really made me start to reflect on basically the idea of the humanities as deemed somehow useless by in a social context or political context. And I started to think about what not simply you know to buy into that kind of rhetoric of you know we need degrees or useful to get jobs on and so forth. It was to think about how something become constructed as useless. And I spent a lot of time now you know teaching students about the kind of contemporary University. and so say in New Zealand where I'm based you know I'm teaching students whose parents would have gone to University where it was free and would have got a bursary to go to university. and I'm teaching colorful people who are paying these crazy fees to go to university and they're all in debt. And that's a completely radical transformation of what education is.