‘Hard Times, Hard Choices’: marketing retrenchment as civic empowerment in an era of neoliberal crisis

This article uses the moralized markets and markets as politics literatures in economic sociology to explore the emerging industry of private consultants who produce ‘democratic’ dialogues for organizational clients from all sectors. In multi-method field research, we (a) trace moralized processes by which market activity and political process are distinguished in an era of financial crisis, and (b) argue that the ability to produce authentic civic-ness is valuable specifically because distinctions between business, government and civil society have become less meaningful in contemporary neoliberal governance. Engagement consultants construct social and economic profits as interdependent and mutually reinforcing, while claiming protection from both business as usual and ordinary politics—a ‘positive’ outcome useful for budget-slashing and benefit-cutting at a moment when authorities face a loss of public faith. Such findings contribute to a better understanding of the historical resiliency of neoliberalism and reveal the meaning-centered dynamics of politicization in moralized markets.