Abstract

ROCHA, Tiago Humberto Rodrigues. Neoliberalism and Discourse Theory: The Uses of the Body in Contemporary Times. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.1, pp.1-16. ISSN 2359-0769.  https://doi.org/10.5020/23590777.rs.v21i1.e9710.

According to the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery, in recent years there has been a jump from 5% to 30% in the number of men who undergo plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes. These figures reflect a change in how the male body is used today. Neoliberalism went beyond the limits of the economy, invaded the ways of acting and desiring, and made the body an additional good to be produced and consumed. The present article results from a research that sought to tension neoliberalism to Lacan's theory of discourses to perceive the possible subjective effects on bodies in contemporary times. For this, we draw an overview of neoliberalism-based on the theories of Roland Gori, Christian Laval, Pierre Dardot, and Dany-Robert Dufour that combine a similar conception of the current historical moment: modes of subjectivation seduced by the possibility of self-management. The research development continues with Jacques Lacan's theory of discourses, with particular emphasis on two of his main developments: the capitalist discourse and the discourse of science. For supporting this discussion, the research took as a backdrop an interview with a subject who had a particular use of his body: he does it in confluence with the market demands, seeking over aesthetic changes to manage the incidence of castration. Given the inevitability of this, we realize that the widening of the contemporary imagination - fueled by advances in technoscience - can lead the individual to make his own body one more object to be consumed.

Keywords : neoliberalism; discourse theory; body; contemporaneity.

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