Complicated Contestation of Neoliberalism

184 Gloria: I think it’s a biased. Let’s say you don’t like Nike’s so you go and say hey you know little kids who get paid ten cents an hour make those. But when it’s something you like you kind of ignore it. Rudy: So because it’s a particular brand you don’t like you’re more disposed to say well it’s made by so and so where as if it’s something you like it doesn’t really matter? Gloria: I thinks it’s you try but you don’t really care. I’m not trying to sound mean but yeah. South-Central LA participant Rudy: Now some of the stuff that you do purchase in these malls, do you know where they’re usually made? Zack: No, I’m not sure. Zoo participant Rudy: Are you aware of some of the conditions where certain clothes are made? Veronica: kind of. Rudy: Can you sort of elaborate on that? Veronica: Like what do you mean? Rudy: Like you said kind of, what came to your mind when you said kind of? Veronica: Like do I really care? Rudy: No not necessarily, um just like do you know what kind of conditions certain clothes are made? Veronica: I don’t really get the question. Rudy: Like sweatshops for instance, stuff like that. Are you familiar with these concepts? Veronica: Not really. Rudy: Or like environmental impact that certain products have? Veronica: Sort of I guess, it depends on the pers on. For me, I don’t really care. I’m more into like my stuff, like pictures and stuff. I don’t really look outside. 60 Bresse participant

6.3 Complicated Contestation of Neoliberalism

However, this is not to suggest that these young people’s apolitical and aesthetic dispositions correspond to, or are reflective of the more apathetic and self-interested discourses of their surrounding neoliberal environments. To be certain, these young p eople’s predominant apolitical and aesthetic dispositional tendencies appear to be playing a different role entirely in their overall 60 In Veronica’s case, it did not appear that she understood my questioning, and this is partly to due to my failure to explain to her what I meant. Nonetheless, it would seem that she is unaware of sweatshop conditions even though she volunteered to me that her uncle works in a garment factory in LA it is an open secret that most of these factories are in fact sweatshops that employ undocumented and mostly Latino immigrants like Veronica’s uncle. 185 contributions to, and contestations of, neoliberal reproduction, which seems to be one of an unconscious partial avoidance and escape from it. To be certain, these young people do not appear to be consciously contesting neoliberal discourses, at least not for political and ethical reasons; they simply do not like the majority of mainstream media-culture and are indifferent to the consumerist and materialistic practices that it promotes. Equally, however, they are not actively and significantly contributing to this culture, at least when compared to the Mainstream group discussed in the following chapter. A possible partial reason for this is that their predominantly apolitical, aesthetic, and artistic dispositions have also partly shielded them from buying into the more materialistic, self-interested, and dominant political-economic discourses of neoliberalism. For example, all of these young people wanted to pursue a career in some form of cultural production for the sake of pursuing something they love do, whilst acknowledging that they do not expect to become rich or famous out of it. Rudy: What do you think your parents expect of you, that is, what do you think they want you to do in life? Gloria: My mom wants me to do whatever makes me happy. But I think that her definition of happy is being financially stable. I just want to do whatever makes me happy [which includes pursuing a career in independent film-making] I don’t really care about the money. South-Central LA participant However, on the flip side, this does also suggest that these dispositions can lead them to avoid a more active engagement with political-economy full stop, neoliberal or otherwise, as is somewhat evident by their underdeveloped political- economic knowledge discussed later in this chapter. As Bourdieu 1981, p. 314 argues : “differences in dispositions, like differences in [socio-structural] position to which they are often linked, engender real differences in perception and appreciation”. Nonetheless, at various intervals concerning different topics, these young people did express more politically? conscientious views. For example, some of them, as demonstrated in the following extracts, expressed very empathetic views when discussing the labour conditions of the people that make their clothes. It is worth noting that when articulating the statements below, Jocelyn, Evyn, and Jesse, at a seemingly dispositional level, manifested voice intonations and facial 186 expressions that reflected a more solemn tone and appearance, while Tiff immediately expressed some remorse as soon as she was asked about where her clothes come from. However, despite these instances of cognitive dissonance that thinking about labour exploitation seemed to induce in them, their knowledge of the sweatshop labour that very likely produces their preferred consumer items, did not seem to impact their consumption practices: Rudy: Do you know under what conditions these clothes are made? Jocelyn: I’ve heard of sweatshops [….] I think that they’re really bad, and nobody should be treated that way, to work a lot of hours for little pay. If could c hange it I would, but I don’t see myself in the condition right now to be able to help anybody. Evyn: Companies need to stop going to China for cheap labour. Zoo Participants Rudy: What do you guys think about these sweatshop conditions? Jesse: The same as John [ Mainstream youth]. I’ll buy things if I need to. I’ll feel guilty, I think is unfair. Self-conscious thoughts come up. Zoo participant Rudy: Can you describe to me what you’re thinking when you purchase them? Tiff: Well if it’s in style. Like the colour jeans I bought one pair even though I liked the other ones. But I mean, if I’m not going to wear them like in a few months from now so what’s the point? That’s what I’m thinking, like how often am I going to wear the product. Rudy: Okay, do you know where these clothes are made? Tiff: I know where they’re from. Now you’re trying to make me feel guilty. Rudy: Why am I making you feel guilty? Tiff: Because I’m thinking about the sweatshops and that people being paid so little for making clothes that they sell here for so much. Rudy: Why do you feel guilty though? Tiff: I guess because I’m supporting the industry that continues to treat this people that way. Rudy: How are you supporting it? Tiff: I still keep buying products from them even though I know how they are made. It’s like telling them it’s ok to go ahead and keep on doing it. Rudy: Now do you think about these issues when you’re buying them? Tiff: No. South-Central LA participant Moreover, some of these young people did express a liking for some political media, and in the case of Tiff, her exposure to a political movie appeared to alter her views. 187 Rudy: Do you listen to any political music at all? Diana: Um, Mueban Las Industrias [Get rid of the factories]. Well like I don’t remember the lyrics that well now. But I like the fact that they use situations that concerned us all in thei r songs. Because I don’t like the songs nowadays that are just pop and have nonsense lyrics that don’t even connect. Zoo participant Rudy: What about a movie? Tiff: One of my favourite movies would be Innocent Voices. It really changed my point of view. I didn’t really see the guerilla people’s point of view. Rudy: What was your perspective before since you said it changed it? Tiff: Well yeah, I didn’t see them [the guerillas] as having families, I saw them mostly as a bunch of men. But when the little boy comes into the picture, and they see the government as bad. Rudy: I should ask what is the movie about? Tiff: It’s about this little boy who lives in El Salvador during the civil war. At the age of 12 the little boys would be taken away from their families so they could be in the army for the Salvadorian government. And his uncle is part of the guerrilla movement. Rudy: So before that what was your perspective? Tiff: Well I didn’t really see the guerrilla men as having families, I thought they were just a bunch of guys. Rudy: So after the movie you were more sympathetic to their cause? Tiff: Yeah to their cause, and to them in general. South-Central LA participant Nonetheless, as Diana’s and Tiff’s above responses exemplify, the ArtsyIndie young people’s expressions of political concerns, like their interpretations of their preferred political media texts, and their rejection of mainstream media-culture, were generally not as prevalent in the interviews andor as in depth as those of the CriticalPolitical young people. Correspondingly, neither Diana nor Tiff expressed a strong valence affective reaction or attachment to their respective political media texts, which in conjunction with their non- elaborate responses, and according to the tenets of cognitive psychology, suggest that they do not regularly engage with their preferred political media, or the political topics covered by that media Lodge et al., 1991. On its own, this is not a striking observation, but it further highlights how the few ArtsyIndie young people who do engage with more critical media, do so to a lesser degree and in less depth than the CriticalPolitical young people. For instance, Jocelyn, Gloria, Evyn, and Jesse all mentioned the US adult cartoon Family Guy as a source of 188 political information. While these cartoons do on occasion contain a few instances of political commentary, these are limited to mostly US Democratliberal concerns, last a few seconds, and are otherwise drowned out by what is an overall jarring kaleidoscope of the mainly 1980s US television and pop-culture references and non-sequiturs that constitute each episode. Given that these transposable apolitical dispositions seem to figure quite prominently in these young people’s socio-cognitive frameworks, traditional consciousness-raising critical pedagogic methods may not be sufficient to create a more conscientious political understanding and concern within these young people, and by inference, within other young people that can be loosely situated within the ArtsyIndie classification as well. This suggests, as I will argue in Chapter 8, that critical pedagogic strategies might benefit from more tailor-made and socio- cognitive approaches that take into consideration the different types of dispositions that are prominent amongst different types of young people.

6.4 ArtsyIndie Welfare Schemata