Dal popolo ai suoi soggetti: cittadini, denizens, lavoratori nell’epoca neoliberista

Is neoliberalism a threat to citizenship? This question is answered with the help of Bryan S. Turner’s analysis of the contemporary obsolescence of citizenship in a market-driven society. According to him, the neoliberal citizen has become similar to the denizen, because the former now enjoys less rights; his/her ethical belonging to the State and the people has been weakened; he/she does not participate in political opinion- and will-formation. The argument of this article, though, is that citizenship itself must be re-examined, re-framing it as a trait d’union between the three main spheres of capitalist society (circulation, production, reproduction). In this light, the neoliberal citizen must also be conceived of as a member of a now world-scale sphere of circulation, which appears to be abstracted from the sphere of production and reproduction. As such, the neoliberal citizen is also experiencing unprecedented levels of autonomy.