In this, the third of my columns about the relationship between workplace bullying and neoliberal managerialism, I want to focus on the phenomena of victim blaming.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Neoliberalism positions workers as human capital placed at the service of the elite.
Neoliberalism reinforces inequity: we are supposed to benefit from supporting those with wealth to maintain their wealth because in doing so, the benefits will trickle down to workers. In an organisation that means that we are supposed to accept what managers require of us, perform the work without question, and gratefully accept our pay which we can use to pursue materialism.
Neoliberalism does not recognise systemic disadvantage. Your struggles at school and in the workplace are simply your fault.
You are unemployed, have no car/bike and living in an area where there is no public transport? Your difficulty in getting a job (because you can’t actually get to the workplace on time) is all your fault.
The solution to your unemployment is to send you on a job skills training course – and if you can’t get to that on time it is clear that you are not interested in employment and should therefore be punished by having your benefit cut.
You complain you are being bullied at work? Firstly you should understand what bullying is, so you will be sent information telling you that it is not the things about which you are complaining.
Then you will be sent on courses such as “Increasing your resilience,” “Stress management” or “Managing workplace change” because clearly you need to learn how to function in your organisation.
Blaming the target serves to make bullying invisible. We do not bully our employees, we just have some who are inadequately prepared for employment so we will address that by educating them appropriately.
If we do not challenge this view of the world we are actually saying it is okay. Chomsky warns us: “As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, and diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.”
We can chose to accept this neoliberal positioning and the world will continue on its current path.
We can chose to say no, to refuse to accept the neoliberal mantra of individual responsibility and instead, start to work collectively, to talk with each other, to support each other and to reach out to others.
It is our choice.
Change begins with one step.
Are we willing to take that step together?
