“Keywords for the Age of Austerity” is a series on the vocabulary of inequality. Certain words, as Raymond Williams wrote in his 1976 classic Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, bind together ways of seeing culture and society. These shared meanings change over time, shaping and reflecting the society in which they are made. Some of the words I will consider here are old, seemingly innocent terms that have acquired a particular fashion or developed a particular new meaning in recent years; others are recent coinages. All of them relate to affinity for hierarchy and a celebration of the virtues of competition, “the marketplace,” and the virtual technologies of our time. This series will explore the historical meanings embedded in these words as well as the new meanings that our age has given them.
Suggest an austerity keyword via the link below or via twitter: @johnpatleary.
Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism 
[…] more on the ever more innovative vocabulary of neoliberalism, Keywords for the Age of Austerity. For more on Ted Cruz, his college […]
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Some colleagues and i recently published a paper on ‘community’ as another meaningless buzzword. It is free to download and you may find it useful. Link is here: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/71#framed_div_cited_count
Not sure if the link will be allowed in this, so if not do a search for Titz Cannon community in the journal Societies.
I have been writing on the problem of Resilience as well, and very much appreciate this article.
good wishes
Terry Cannon
Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK
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What a fascinating project. Congrats!
Dr. E.K.
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