Introduction

The most obvious way in which neoliberal politics disconnect us from ourselves is by encouraging us to think less about who we are and our actual interests than who we want to be and with what interests we identify. This is framed as ‘the politics of aspiration’. Instead of focusing on where we actually are, the emphasis becomes what, who and where we might want, or be led, to believe we can be.

Like many other ideas which started with progressive aims, like cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986), the idea of aspirational politics is often used to reinforce the status quo, although it also has origins in challenging it. The broadest sense in which the idea has developed relates to setting aspirational political goals, like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to eliminate poverty and hunger, or the UN Conventions to safeguard the rights of children and disabled people. Aspirations in this sense are lofty goals ‘that exist without being fully realised, and towards which one progresses by means of change’ (Roosevelt, 2012, cited in Finnemore and Jurkovich, 2020, p 760). Our reach may always exceed our grasp, but they help by providing targets for politicians and for people to press for. They carry risks; identifying targets isn't the same as achieving them. Electorates can grow weary of such a process and become open to manipulation if their politicians can't be held to account (Finnemore and Jurkovich, 2020, op cit).