Neoliberalism and the Creation of ‘Obedient Bodies’ in Healthcare: Current Political Creeds and Their Impact Upon the Acute Care Sector in Canada

Neoliberalism, described as a current hegemonic ideology and mode of governance that embraces individualism, market fundamentalism and subservient governments as its core tenets, has generated an increasingly fragmented society - with a deriving Darwinian culture where everybody tends to self, and only the strong and capable will survive. Constantly attacking the ‘commonplace’ and everything related to the idea of shared responsibility, while refusing to admit our ever-present interdependencies, neoliberalism has created a world-wide asphyxiation of care. This crisis of caring spreads into every sphere of society, from the polis to our natural resources, depleted more and more by neoliberal greed. Policies and measures designed to protect communities and populations are constantly removed or weakened, superseded by the worship of capital and the struggle to generate profit at any cost.

Canada, like many of the Western capital-oriented nations, has, unfortunately, embraced the neoliberal agenda, too, since the late 1970s and early 1980s. Consequently, social protection strategies and publicly owned assets are relentlessly - and sometimes surreptitiously - assaulted. Common resources and their governing processes are under constant surveyance in the name of efficiency. Often, the result is tragic: what once belonged to all is now the possession of just a few. The Canadian healthcare system is, too, beneath the neoliberal talon. Yes, although under permanent criticism and tireless invigilation, our public healthcare system still stands, despite sabotaging discourses that claim unsustainability. For how long, though? Affected by partial removal of government coverages, fractional privatization, and relinquishment of certain services to the marketplace, our public capacities to care are weakened day after day. Efficiency is consistently dethroning quality, with numerous consequences that equally hurt receivers and providers of care. A downwards spiral is thus created, whilst privatization of healthcare services is presented as the only viable solution, a cure for all lesions and a remedy for all deficits.

As one of the epitomes of care, as those who are ever-present at the patient’s bedside, regardless of resources, strategies, support, pandemic measures, or lack of thereof, this paper will argue that nurses are affected the most by this healthcare crisis. The existential encounters that the caring profession is so proud of, and so gratified with, become scarce. The very idea of quality of care needs to be restrained to a few fortunate moments or limited circumstances. After prolonged and unsupported compensatory efforts, a multitude of nurses - burnt out and disheartened - might consider alternate ways of regaining professional and living satisfaction, and leave the profession: a current post-pandemic, still unresolved, unfortunate reality.

The proposed way forward that concludes my study is the constant resistance against neoliberalism, this present zeitgeist: defiance through contrasting ideology and counter-discourse, and confrontation by counteraction, from the smallest act occurring at the individual level, to the larger acts, initiated by communities and nation-states. The suggested alternative is the idea of common good, while promoting the restoration of a culture of care. Instead of promoting self-sufficiency, we need to point toward the incessant human need for one another. Instead of relentlessly competing with each other in a fragmented and disoriented world, we could allow others to win as well.