Enterprise theology and welfare discourse in the United Kingdom

This article describes the development in the United Kingdom of the discourse of enterprise theology, which, it is argued, represents a mechanism of governance addressed to certain members in the community that are perceived to be in need of special help and correction. The conclusion reached in this article is that that the dominant ideas of enterprise, together with the centrality of markets, converge with the notion that the market for those in need brings about the appropriate moral and theological salvation. With the decline of formal religious institutions, it is argued that states have utilized a new type of religious discourse to extend new methods of ‘pastoral governance’. This study proposes that enterprise theology represents a new form of political rationality for populations deemed to be at risk and that this discourse acts as a mechanism of social exclusion.