NEOLIBERALISM HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN US

“An economic system that rewards psychopathic personality traits has changed our ethics and our personality. We are forever told that we are freer to choose the course of our lives than ever before, but the freedom to choose outside the success narrative is limited”

By: Paul Verhaeghe

Published: October6, 2014, The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/29/neoliberalism-economic-system-ethics-personality-psychopathicsthic

Level of difficulty: ***

Thanks are due to my friend and colleague Valerie Needham for this wonderful text

BEFORE YOU READ

Watch the following videos and take notes to get an idea of the focus of the reading task:

• “Meritocracy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTDGdKaMDhQ
• “The lie of meritocracy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsD5qat1Jh8

QUESTIONS

1.       It is stated in the first paragraph of the article that “thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatization have taken their toll”. What is the toll they have taken?

2.       Read the last sentence of paragraph one and state clearly what its function is. Then state clearly what type of article you are about to read: argumentative, advantages and disadvantages, cause and effect, problem solution, narrative or descriptive.

3.       The ability to speak well and make contact with people is important in the modern world to remain psychologically healthy / to be able to socialize / to make the right contacts / to win.

4.       What personality trait seems to have lost its importance in the modern world? Mark the answer that doesn’t fit: honesty/ trustworthiness/ uprightness / deception /sincerity.

5.       Being quick off the mark is good in theory but one has to remember that one can lose big as well as win. Would the modern man described in the text heed this advice? Why or why not?

6.        Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the paragraph beginning “This description is, of course…”?

·         In the modern business world, loyalty is out and profit is in

·         There is no place for friendship in the business world

·         Alliances should be preserved for greater profit

·         There is no room for feelings in the business world

7.       Why exactly is bullying more common in the modern workplace?

8.       The discouragement of initiative in the workplace reduces the workers to acting like……………….and squabbling/ fighting / backbiting / arguing / shouting / snitching

9.       People nowadays are losing their self respect because they don’t receive enough ………………………………………………………………………………………………

10.   Stating that anyone can succeed in the modern world is a bare faced lie

because ………………………………………………………………………………………………

11.   Telling people they are freer to determine the course of their lives is ironic when there is only …………………………………choice: the success narrative.

12.   The arguments encompassed by neoliberal meritocracy can best be described as a……………………………………………………………………………..

13.   According to the writer, freedoms in the modern world are due to……………………..

14.   The fact that so many human activities and products are closely regulated proves that we are not as free as we think / we are not as powerful as we think / we are not bureaucratic as we think/ we are not as significant as we think. Mark the wrong answer.

15.   In the modern world the concept of success is / isn’t relative.

16.   Refer back to question 2 and then read the last paragraph of the text. Revise your answer to question 2 if you need to. Now state clearly how the last paragraph fits in with your answer.

WRITING TASK

Write an essay in which you discuss to what extent you agree with the following statement by Zygmunt Bauman: “Never have we been so free. Never have we been so powerless”

NEOLIBERALISM HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN US KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This sad yet topical text has given me the opportunity to write questions concerning drawing conclusions, finding main ideas and relationships of cause and effect. There is also plenty of paraphrasing and vocabulary practice. The writing task should not require any additional guidance.

1.       It has had a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities

2.       It is the topic sentence; argumentative

3.       To make the right contacts

4.       Deception

5.       No; it won’t be him who picks up the pieces

6.       The first

7.       Because there is a buried sense of fear, ranging from performance anxiety to a broader social fear of the threatening other.

8.       Infants or children; squabbling ( only this word refers to the fighting of children)

9.       Recognition from others

10.   We are reinforcing privilege and putting increasing pressure on overstretched and exhausted citizens

11.   One, a single

12.    A fairytale (of unrestricted choice)

13.   Indifference

14.   We are not as bureaucratic as we think

15.   Isn’t

16.   It is a typical conclusion for an argumentative essay: the ideas hinted at in the introduction and discussed in the development are paraphrased here