Reality TV, or The Secret Theater of Neoliberalism

Every system of cruelty requires its own theatre. 1 By 'system' I mean an organization of objects, people and opportunities that is both regular and open to public view.There are of course many forms of cruelty that depend on secrecy, but the legitimation of systems of cruelty requires the transformations enabled by ritualized performance.The regime of economic production that, with its associated discourses, is usually called 'neoliberalism', is a system of cruelty.What else to call a way of organizing social resources and human labour that requires of its participants continuous loyalty, submission to surveillance and external direction even within the deepest recesses of private life, yet demands of those same individuals an acceptance of the fragility and