Many scholars have characterized neoliberalism as a class project, designed to rebuild the class power and wealth of the elite in US society following the economic, political, and social turmoil of the 1960 and 1970s. Neoliberal restructuring entailed both a political-economic dimension in the reorganization of laws and practices and an ideological dimension in which social issues were transformed into personal troubles. The locus of attention in neoliberalism became the self: we are all independent, autonomous actors meeting in the marketplace, making our destinies and in the process making society. The power of structural forces like capitalism to create inequality and limit life choices is downplayed or ignored, particularly among younger people.
Peck argues that Oprah’s enterprise reinforces this neoliberal focus on the self: Oprah’s “enterprise [is] an ensemble of ideological practices that help legitimize a world of growing inequality and shrinking possibilities by promoting and embodying a configuration of self compatible with that world.” Nothing captures this ensemble of ideological practices better than O Magazine, whose aim is to “help women see every experience and challenge as an opportunity to grow and discover their best self. To convince women that the real goal is becoming more of who they really are. To embrace their life.”15 O Magazine implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, identifies a range of problems in neoliberal capitalism and suggests ways for readers to adapt themselves to mitigate or overcome these problems.
Does your sixty-hour-a-week desk job make your back hurt and leave you emotionally exhausted and stressed? Of course it does. Studies show that “death by office job” is real—people who sit at a desk all day are more likely to be obese, depressed, or just dead for no discernible reason. But you can dull these effects and improve your wellness with these O-approved strategies: Become more of an “out-of-the-box thinker” because creative people are healthier. Bring photos, posters, and “kitschy figurines” to decorate your workspace—“you’ll feel less emotionally exhausted and reduce burnout.” Write down three positive things that happened during your workday every night before leaving the office to “reduce stress and physical pain from work.”16
Even outside the workplace, stress is a constant in many people’s lives today. To alleviate these feelings, meditation expert and psychotherapist Tara Brach recommends that when you’re feeling stressed “notice what’s going on inside of you, and mentally whisper yes to the experience; yes to the anxiety, yes to the tension, yes to the irritation. With each yes, you give space for the experience to unfold. Letting your feelings progress to their logical conclusion helps them dissolve.” Remember what spiritual teacher and best-selling author Eckhart Tolle says: “We are not our thoughts. We are the awareness of our thoughts, disguised as people.”17
In December 2013, O devoted a whole issue to anxiety and worry. The issue “conquers a lifetime’s worth of anxieties and apprehensions,” an apt subject given rising levels of anxiety across the age spectrum. In the issue, bibliotherapists Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin present a list of books for the anxious, prescribing them instead of a “trip to the pharmacy.” Feeling claustrophobic because you’re too poor to move out of your parent’s house? Read Little House on the Prairie. Feeling stressed because your current project at work is ending and you don’t have another lined up? Read The Man Who Planted Trees. Worried that you won’t be able to pay the rent because you just lost your job? Read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. “Instead of feeling depressed, follow the lead hero Toru Okada, who, while jobless, embarks on a fantastic liberating journey that changes the way he thinks.”18
If you’re still feeling anxious, remember “that you can’t control the job market, but you can shore up your future prospects by networking.” And stop comparing yourself with other, more successful people. Instead, Nilofer Merchant (Silicon Valley corporate director and speaker) advises you to “try to harness your ‘onlyness’”: “Admire your own kick-ass individuality” and don’t engage in “comparisonitis” or “you’ll miss your true value.”19
Keep the inspiration flowing by putting one of O Magazine’s card-stock “quotables” up on the fridge, like this Kurt Vonnegut gem: “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘it might have been.’” Not a Vonnegut fan? Flip the card over. On the back is a Wholly Guacamole advertisement reminding you to “start your day off on the guac foot!”20
The ads in O are the other half of the feel-good formula. Fill up that hole inside you with spirituality and really nice stuff. In the special issue on anxiety, the nine-page feature story on “how to worry productively” is followed by a ten-page segment on boots and a seven-page spread on makeup. O tells us what to buy to “live our best life” in the O list of “must-haves.” Rain getting you down? Buy some cheeky ($168) rain boots because “the wrong footwear makes bad weather even gloomier.” There’s even a special “Why It’s Worth It” section in each issue, explaining why you should buy things like a $250 Anne Fontaine “timeless button-down” shirt. (After five years it will cost you only $1 per wear!) Oprah’s personal journey finds its way here as well: “I remember when I finally had enough money to splurge, I went out and bought a stack of Ralph Lauren towels. I still remember how soft they felt.”21
Spirituality, self-actualization, and stuff are inseparable. Including the pages in which O presents readers with Oprah-approved products, 70 percent of the anxiety issue is advertising. There’s no contradiction here, though, because, as Oprah says, God is abundance:
God—however you define or refer to Him, Her, or It—is for us. The forces of nature are for us, offering us life in abundance. Every day and every breath is magic—if we can only see it for what it is … I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that the little girl from Mississippi who grew up holding her nose in an outhouse now flies on her own plane—my own plane!—to Africa to help girls who grew up like her. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!22
Oprah recognizes the pervasiveness of anxiety and alienation in our society. But instead of examining the economic or political basis of these feelings, she advises us to turn our gaze inward and reconfigure ourselves to become more adaptable to the vagaries and stresses of the neoliberal moment.
Not Just for Housewives
Oprah’s reach extends beyond the maligned imaginary of housewives who spend their days going to spinning classes, helicopter parenting, writing in their gratitude journals, and popping Lexapro. Sociologist Heather Laine Talley and Monica Casper, head of the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, argue that “all Americans consume Oprah whether they realize it or not.”23
In her Cotton Mather meets Norman Vincent Peale commencement speeches, Oprah exhorts students at Stanford, Duke, Spelman, Howard, and Harvard to follow her example:
When you’re doing work you’re meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you’re getting paid … So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everyone has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you.24
Millennials have internalized this message: A recent study found that young people believe that adulthood “should be a journey toward happiness and fulfillment, meaning and purpose, [and] self-actualization,” one “marked by continuous development, discovery and growth.”25 Identity and work are inseparable in this equation, not because people identify themselves by their occupation, but because more and more of our lives are spent working, networking, and building up our personal brand. We spend years acquiring social capital (connections, access to networks) and cultural capital (skills and education) so we can find a job we love and hopefully keep a roof over our heads.
The “do what you love” message is at the heart of the work-identity fusion. It advises you to follow your passion. If you’re unhappy, it’s because you’re not following your passion. If your job sucks, you’re at the wrong job. Video blogger and social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk’s famo
us TED Talk is a “shot in the arm” for those pining for a more fulfilling life:
There are way too many people in this room right now that are doing stuff they hate. Please stop doing that. There is no reason in 2008 to do shit you hate! None. Promise me you won’t … Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life?’ Do that! I promise you can monetize that shit … Whatever you need to do, do it … Stop crying and keep hustling. ‘Hustle’ is the most important word ever. And that’s what you need to do. You need to work so hard.26
The message is that if you make the right choices and build up enough social and cultural capital you can achieve personal and professional success simultaneously in a virtuous cycle that reproduces itself (with constant exertion). Marie Forleo, another internet success story, embodies the virtuous cycle. Forleo is a bestselling author and creator of MarieTV, and she rubs elbows with Russell Simmons, Sir Richard Branson, Marianne Williamson, and, of course, Oprah. In a recent interview with Forbes, Forleo says that “outrageous success comes from thinking different, being different and having the confidence to always do what feels right in your heart.”27 She sells an eight-week online entrepreneurship course ($1,999) that promises to help you “create a business and a life you love.” Forleo’s business school, or “B-school” (formerly the Rich, Happy, and Hot B-School), teaches students how to market themselves, tap into social networks, build a web presence, and be happy in their personal lives. The school’s motto is that you can “get anything you want. It doesn’t take talent or luck to succeed. You just have to decide.”28
Passion isn’t easy, though. Happiness and career success are only for the serious. You have to be willing to put in some serious “sweat equity” and be ready for competition. If you reach the top and there is no one left to compete with, compete with yourself. As Oprah says: “At first I was nervous about the competition and then I became my own competition, raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, pushing myself as hard as I knew.”29 You must be willing to work harder than everyone else. In O Magazine, Suze Orman tells Nadia, a twenty-five-year-old freelancer who works at NPR and two other jobs but is still unable to make ends meet, that she must “be willing to do anything and everything asked of her” because “there are no guarantees.”30
It’s certainly true that there are no guarantees. It can be hard to get a leg up when everyone around you is trying to do the same thing. In a society organized around the profit motive, the effects get weird fast, as demonstrated by the vast sea of unpaid “educational” internships. Every college student (who can afford it) is encouraged to build connections and skills through internships, and competition for them is fierce. Columnist Madeleine Schwartz notes that interns are regularly encouraged to be “flexible,” “energetic,” “creative,” and, most important, thankful for the opportunity to work for nothing.31 The National Labor Relations Board recently stepped in after widespread exploitation of interns was brought to light. In 2011, Fox Searchlight Pictures was charged with violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, and since then similar lawsuits have been filed against other companies, including Warner Music Group, Atlantic Music, and publishing houses Condé Nast and Hearst Corporation. In October 2014, NBC Universal settled a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of its interns for $4.6 million.
Following your passion and doing what you love may also require you to forgo job stability and long-term employment on the always changing, always moving road to self-actualization. But job stability is rare these days: The average Millennial spends only 2.6 years at a company today. Some 30 percent of the US workforce is contingent labor, and by some estimates, 40 to 50 percent of jobs that produce an income will be organized as short-term, contract work by 2020. Career lifespans are lengthening to fifty or more years, so essentially half of Millennials can expect to be freelancers for their entire adult lives.32
In response to these dramatic shifts in the labor market, groups like the Freelancers Union have emerged. The Freelancers Union (formerly Working Today) was founded by Sarah Horowitz in 2001 and represents almost a quarter-million freelancers: writers, photographers, web designers, and other hard-up creative class comrades. Horowitz was named one of the 30 Top Social Entrepreneurs by Forbes and a Top 25 Most Promising Social Entrepreneur by Businessweek. The Freelancers Union offers health and pension insurance to qualified members, has successfully fought to reduce taxes on freelancers, and has introduced legislation to protect freelancers from deadbeat clients.33
In its focus on self-adjustment, gratitude, and service, the strategy presented by the Freelancers Union echoes Oprah’s message. The union’s website offers tips for branding yourself (be likable, tell a story, be personal, be memorable). It urges freelancers to think of building social capital as opening “your love bank account” instead of just networking—success comes from first asking “what can I give?” It also offers guidance: What should you do when you hit a dry patch and have no work? Network (of course). Clean your desk: “You’ll be surprised by how a clean, tidy desk will affect your productivity.” Add skills: “You can never have too many skills. Maybe it’s time to learn how to write code, market more effectively, or use Photoshop. The more skills you have, the more marketable you’ll be.” Evaluate your business model: “Have you been undercharging?” Want to grow as a freelancer? “Reinvent yourself,” “productize your services,” and “elevate your stature.” If you don’t like being a freelancer and are just doing it to eat, you should consider “finding the perfect full-time job.”34
In the Freelancers Union model contingent work becomes desirable, a choice that offers freedom and autonomy. “Freelancers are changing the definition of success. It’s no longer about the corner office in a soulless glass tower. It’s about building and sharing real value together—investing in time, community, and well-being.” The group sees this more “mindful approach to work” as a “pyramid of self-actualization.” At the bottom of the pyramid are the stressedout, struggling “unfree” freelancers, followed by the slightly better off, but probably still surviving on ramen (or the trust fund), “hustling” freelancers. Moving up past the “empowered” and the “influential” freelancers we reach the top: the “360 degrees Freelancer.” But the pinnacle isn’t about money, status, or applause. “It’s about giving back.”35
The Freelancers Union is part of an emerging social movement called “new mutualism” that’s grounded in the concept of a sharing economy. Jeremy Rifkin sees the sharing economy as the next big thing. He argues that hundreds of millions of people are already on board, sharing “information, entertainment, green energy, and 3D printed products at near-zero marginal cost.” People are also sharing more personal things like clothes, homes, and household items.36 “Flexible,” “diversified” freelancers are the archetypal sharers:
They mentor. They give without asking what they get. They see an opportunity and bring people together to seize it. But, most important, they’re seeing beyond today. They know that the future will look very different than the present—and they’re getting ready for it. Maybe they’re part of a small cooperative of graphic designers who band together to help market each other and keep costs down. Or they make sure they buy from and work with other local freelancers to keep the ecosystem healthy. They buy their groceries at the local food co-op. They attend classes. They teach classes. They go to networking events not just to hand out business cards, but to find other freelancers that share their passions.37
In the new sharing economy we’ll all be freelancers. We’ll rent out our spare rooms on Airbnb and drive our cars for Lyft. We’ll have a “portfolio of jobs” and live our lives by “essentialist” principles: We will live with “intention and choice” and celebrate the joy of “fulfilling a purpose” and making “small choices that lead to big change.”38
It’s all about adapting ourselves and acquiring the necessary skills and connections to make it in the world. This is the new American Dream. Sure,
there are problems in society, but we don’t need to change the world. We just need to change ourselves and the problems will disappear.
Reconsidering the American Dream
Renowned sociologist C. Wright Mills once said that “by the fact of [our] living [we] contribute, however minutely, to the shaping of this society and to the course of history, even as [we are] made by society and by its historical push and shove.” The interplay of biography and history is central: To comprehend the possibilities for individuals we must look beyond their personal stories and milieus and situate them within the economic and political structures of the society they live in. One can “know their own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in their circumstances.”39
Oprah is appealing precisely because her stories hide the role of political, economic, and social structures. Instead of examining the interplay of biography and history, they eliminate it, making structure and agency indistinguishable. In doing so, they make the American Dream seem attainable. If we just fix ourselves, we can achieve our goals. For some people the American Dream is attainable, but to understand the chances for everyone, we need to look dispassionately at the factors that shape success.
The current incarnation of the American Dream narrative holds that if you acquire enough cultural capital (skills and education) and social capital (connections, access to networks) you will be able to translate that capital into both economic capital (cash money) and happiness. Cultural capital and social capital are seen as there for the taking (particularly with advances in internet technology), so the only additional necessary ingredients are pluck, passion, and persistence—all attributes that allegedly come from inside us.
The New Prophets of Capital Page 8