Mind management 2.0: The internet and the myth of individualism and personal choice in neoliberal times

Abstract

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Herbert I. Schiller’s The Mind Managers that carried out a critical political economy analysis of the myths that sustained industrial capitalism and the role played by the media and cultural industries in their dissemination. As a tribute, this paper highlights the value of Schiller’s work, tracing the historical origins of, and updating, what he considered to be the most important myth in this groundbreaking book: individualism and personal choice. The research shows that this myth has strengthened and undergone important changes in the technologically-centered neoliberal context of today’s cognitive capitalism, where its function is to hide and idealize the present-day structural conditions. The prevalence and characteristics of this myth are analyzed through the paradigmatic example of dating apps. Both the possibilities and limitations provided by media technologies are considered in the context of power relations.