The confidence cult(ure)

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Gill, Rosalind and Orgad, Shani. 2015. The confidence cult(ure). Australian Feminist Studies, 30(86), pp. 324-344. ISSN 0816-4649 [Article]

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Official URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08164...

Abstract or Description

In this paper we explore how confidence has become a technology of self that invites girls and women to work on themselves. The discussion demonstrates the extensiveness of what we call the ‘cult(ure) of confidence’ across different areas of social life, and examines the continuities in the way that exponents of the confidence cult(ure) name, diagnose and propose solutions to archetypal feminist questions about labour, value and the body. Our analysis focuses on two broad areas of social life in which the notion of confidence has taken hold powerfully in the last few years: popular discussions about gender and work, and consumer body culture. Examining the incitements to self-confidence in these realms, we show how an emergent technology of confidence, systematically re-signifies feminist accounts, by turning away from structural inequalities and collectivist critiques of male domination into heightened modes of self-work and self-regulation, and by repudiating the injuries inflicted by the structures of inequality. We conclude by situating the ‘confidence cult(ure)’ in relation to wider debates about feminism, postfeminism and neoliberalism.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2016.1148001

Additional Information:

"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Australian Feminist Studies on 8 Apr 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08164649.2016.1148001. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited."

Keywords:

Feminism, Postfeminism, Neoliberalism, Work, Subjectivity

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Institute for Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship (ICCE)

Dates: