Keywords
Discourse Analysis, Critical Work Studies, Neoliberalism, Governmentality, Labor Precarity, Foucault
Abstract
This study explores the Great Resignation—a mass wave of voluntary job departures during and after the COVID-19 pandemic— through a Foucauldian lens, exploring the intersections of neoliberal labor practices, worker subjectivities, and discursive power. Using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) 25 interviews with individuals who resigned during this period were analyzed to explore how workers engage with neoliberal discourses in making sense of their work-related attitudes, experiences, and decisions as well as the broader discursive constructions used to interpret the Great Resignation as a societal phenomenon. Participants’ narratives reveal varying degrees of alignment, negotiation, and resistance to neoliberal subjectivity, shaped by discourses of responsibilization, individualization, entrepreneurialism while also reflecting moments of critique and resistance. Beyond personal experiences, participants’ discussions revealed five discursive constructions of the Great Resignation —'The Lazy Worker,' 'Leveraging Opportunity,' 'Decentering Work,' 'Navigating Precarity,' and 'Empowered Workers'—reflecting a contested discursive site and exposing the interplay between neoliberal rationalities and workers’ attempts to navigate, critique, and reimagine the labor market. These findings situate the Great Resignation as a site of both discursive rupture and continuity, highlighting the complex interplay of governance and agency, where the neoliberal framework is simultaneously resisted, reproduced, and reimagined. This research advances sociological understandings of neoliberal power, discourse, and subjectivity, illustrating how governmentality shapes individual experiences and subjectivities and broader perceptions of labor, as the Great Resignation marks a contested reconfiguration of work, power, and identity under neoliberal capitalism.
Completion Date
2024
Semester
Fall
Committee Chair
Amy Donley
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Sociology
Format
Identifier
DP0029025
Language
English
Release Date
12-15-2024
Access Status
Dissertation
STARS Citation
Austin, Caroline, "Opportunities and Insecurities: Discursive Power and the Neoliberal Transformation of Work in the Great Resignation" (2024). Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024. 6.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2024/6
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