Neoliberalising Subjects: The Legacy of New Labour’s Construction of Social Exclusion in Local Governance

Analysis of ‘neoliberalism’ in recent geographical work has usefully drawn attention to the manner in which certain political-economic ideas resonate with a diverse range of state projects, policy objects and socio-political imaginaries. Positioning neoliberalism as a multifaceted political phenomenon, scholars have explored its local manifestations: the embodiments of an express commitment to market exchange in specific geo-historical contexts. Key to this process, it is argued here, is the attempt to instil a series of values and social practices in policy subjects. This process can have lasting effects by virtue of being embedded in practices of governance at the local level, a dimension that has been given less attention in existing research. Using the implementation of the New Deals for the Unemployed and New Deal for Communities in Bristol as an illustrative case, this paper investigates this potentiality by positioning New Labour’s construction of social exclusion as a mechanism of neoliberalisation and exploring the legacy of the neoliberal values espoused in and through its social exclusion policies.