The consumer as agent in neoliberalism

In recent decades, the prevailing neoliberal discourse has highlighted the active role of the consumer. The consumer agency is associated with several factors: the rhetoric of advertising that emphasizes complicity with the consumer; technologies of self through which consumers act as entrepreneurs of themselves; interactive mechanisms that suggest increased participation; appeal to social responsibility in consumer behavior. When we look closely at each of these factors, however, the limitations of today’s presumed consumer empowerment are revealed.