In the past we had the industrial revolution. This was an era based on production, oil, commodities, hard labor. The era moving in is the quest for biological solutions. “ The 1980’s was a period in which the U.S petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries embarked on a dramatic self-imposed makeover, reinventing themselves - at least prospectively – as purveyors of the new, clean life science technologies ” (Cooper: 22). The shift into the future will not be industrially led it will be led by information, and science. The life sciences or the biological sciences will lead the future. “ Profits will depend on the accumulation of biological futures rather than on the extraction of non renewable resources and mass production of tangible commodities ” (Cooper: 24).Cooper talks about how the neoliberalsism is alive and well in the US and it is not only the result of politics it is a result of many things. Such as the change in the way our economy operates the type of work that is now being done, and the future promises of sustainability. The result of this thinking is a future that looks like this. “ This is a strategy that looks to the future to recuperate the costs of ecological depletion, while accelerating the actual production of wastes in the present ” (Cooper 49). Cooper points out that we are creating a cycle of new products to clean up our messes. We are promising the masses of a better world and going about everyday life recklessly, hoping that in a few years there will be a biotechnological solution to our problems. We are not solving problems we just changing them.

The definition of Neoliberalism is “ a program for destroying collective structures which may impede the pure market logic,” as put buy Pierre Bourdieu. In other words it is a movement toward the slow deregulation of rules and laws so that the market can operate freely have pure competition. This deregulation is almost always pushed for by the large companies that want free reign, through lobbying, and supporting certain people who have power to change the rules. This is also very common with large powerful companies globalizing and going overseas. There the company has power and reputation, then the company uses its clout to sway politicians to deregulate. You can easily find out if you know this concept and participate in this debate if you ask yourself what political party you are a part of. We face this battle every four years in the elections. One political group wants pure markets, and the other wants some form of government rules. This is why neoliberalism is now being talked about. We can see the effects of neoliberalism in everyday life and it has become more and more prevalent in the recent years. There has been deregulation of banks, energy, airlines, home mortgages, and many more.

In the past the government in the United States had some power over banks and the amount of lending and interest rates that were given out to people who had certain credit ratings, income levels and ages. Recently we have seen a very bad turn in the economy. It is not entirely because of the housing crash but it is defiantly related. The reason of the housing crash was the deregulating of banks. This led to many bankers lending to very risky people and only in the mindset of profifts. I very bad situation came out of this. People lost jobs, homes, the ecomony suffered. This is an example of the concept of neoliberalsim and Coopers ideas about how deregulation causes problems and creates waste. In this example it is peoples talent and lives at waste.

It was Adam Smith who introduced the idea of the invisible hand. I have heard this concept in so many of my business classes. The idea that economies should be left alone and not have governmental interference or regulation, because in a perfect competitive market every industry will eventually even out and produce the best situation for everyone, eliminating the weak and the strong are thriving. The thought is that increased competition will lower prices and make a better product improving for everyone. The problem is that no market is perfectly competitive. This is because one company has a property right, certain assets that are rare or there is some collusion. To many people who don’t understand the whole picture it sounds like a good idea. However like I said before no market is perfect. Because of this there will be a market leader who will own the business. This company will them have power. With this power it will use all of its power to deregulate.

How does this creep its way back into the biotech industry? Promises are being made for the future on the basis of the life sciences making organisms that can eat pollution, eat garbage, and create new forms of fuel. The biotech industry is our solution to all our wasteful problems. Is it really? What are these hybrids, cloned, test tube made things doing to our world? We have no idea. Our idea is that we can make these things that change the environment and if it satisfies us for now it is great. They will make something new if this thing produces a bad side effect.

The images I choose I thought represented the idea of neoliberalsim. The first is just a representation of what it means more of the definition. The second image I choose was the consequences of neoliberalism in a comedic way. The final image I wanted to show is the globalization effect. It has a hold over all of us and is unstoppable. The global companies push for pure competition and in turn creating waste.


"Scientist." Business Line. Web. 15 Feb 2010. .

"Break Freeeeeee." Web. 15 Feb 2010. .

Cooper, Melinda. Life as Surplus Biotechnology & Capitalism in the Neoliberal Era. Seattle/London: University of Washington Press, 2008. Print.

Bourdieu, Pierre. Web. 15 Feb 2010. .

"Globalization." Illuminati-News. Web. 15 Feb 2010. .