Blessing Neoliberalism: Economy, Family, and the Occult in Millennial Turkey

Abstract:The occult idea of divine blessings is increasingly deployed in millennial Turkey to suggest that pious/moral behaviors are mystically rewarded by material gain in economic as well as intimate realms. This article explores the connections between rhetorical uses of the trope of blessings of businesses and blessings of children as a lens into the relationships between economic neoliberalism and social conservatism. Building upon Marxist, feminist, and Foucaldian traditions that emphasize the interconnectedness of familial/reproductive and economic/productive realms, the article follows the trope of blessings as it traverses the intimate and economic spheres and stitches together neoliberal and neoconservative rationales. I argue that the trope of blessings reflects a particular articulation of neoliberalism with neoconservatism through which familialism is mobilized for economic profitability. Attending to the tensions between neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and the actual consequences of neoliberalization, I insist on the active and volatile nature of the ideological work required to maintain political hegemony and the opportunities for subversion and resistance.