Neoliberalism, Politics and

SocietySuehair Houmaisi 17498542

Week 4Power, Politics and Resistance

What is Neoliberalism?O “Neoliberalism is in the first instance a

theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” (Harvey, 2001)

My Personal ReflectionOne example of Neoliberalism occurring in my personal life and all over the news is the Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s Budget.

Effects:O Changes to Youth AllowanceO Changes to Higher Education supportO New interest rate on HECSO GP fee

Effects on my familyO Pensioner age increasedO GP feeO Superannuation age increasedO Cuts on Family incomeO Increase in Petrol pricesO More TaxO Less income for children over the age of six

References O George, S. (1999). ‘A short history of neoliberalism’.

presented at the Conference on Economic Sovereignty in a Globalising World, viewed 20th May 2014, <http://www.tni.org/article/short-history-neoliberalism>.

O Harvey, D. (2005). ‘A brief history of neoliberalism’. Oxford University Press, New York.

O Harvey, D. (2006). ‘Neoliberalism as creative destruction’. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 610: 22-24.

Week 6Power, Politics and Resistance

The Clash of Civilisations

Clash of Civilisations“During the Cold War the world was divided into the First, Second and Third Worlds. Those divisions are no longer relevant. It is far more meaningful now to group countries not in terms of their political or economic systems or in terms of their level of economic development but rather in terms of their culture and civilisation. What do we mean when we talk of a civilisation? A civilisation is a cultural entity. Villages, regions, ethnic groups, nationalities, religious groups, all have distinct cultures at different levels of cultural heterogeneity” (Huntington, 1993).

The clash of civilisations in my world

O Being a religious Muslim

O Living in a Western country

O Being surrounded by media

O Being part of the workforce

O Differing beliefs from the people around me

A Picture tells one thousand words

References:O Huntington, S. P (1993). The clash of

civilisations, Foreign Affairs, 3: 22-49.

O Mahmood, S. (2009). Religious reason and secular effect: An incommensurable divide? Critical Enquiry, 35: 836-852.

Week 11- Power, Politics and Resistance

Citizenship and Inequality III:

Gender and Sexuality

The Three Waves of Feminism

O First wave: These were the women of the nineteenth and twentieth Century who were fighting for rights we take for granted today such as: the right to vote, to earn property and to gain an education.

O Second wave: Women protested against equal work, wages for housework, legal abortion. Their slogan was ‘the personal is the political’

O Third wave: Inspired by black women and majority world feminists. Argued that second wave feminism was based on white western women and ignored the differences between black/white, rich/poor etc. believed gender is socially constructed and aimed at breaking down walls of gender.

O (Lorber, 2010)

Where does Feminism fit into my life?

O I am educatedO I believe in equalityO I believe women should have rights and

deserve themO I am a Muslim, veiled womenO However I do believe gender plays a big role

in the society we live in.

Fight for Feminism

References O Lorber, J (Ed.). (2010). Gender inequality:

Feminist theories and politics, Oxford University Press, New York.

O Okin, M. S. (1998). Feminism, women’s rights and cultural differences, Hypatia, 13, 2: 32-52.

O Power, N. (2009). One dimensional women, London: Zero Books.