Neoliberal virtues

The terms "self-esteem" and "resilience" have become the twin pillars of neoliberal subjectivity, a conceptual machinery designed to produce docile subjects before market voracity. Self-esteem, far from being a tool for genuine self-valuation, functions as a relentless superego imperative: "you must love yourself enough to remain productive." It's the perfect internalization of market logic at the very core of our relationship with ourselves.

Resilience completes this perverse operation. It doesn't celebrate the human capacity to resist and transform adverse conditions, but rather rewards silent submission to any form of systemic violence. The message is clear: your value lies in your capacity to endure, to bend without breaking, to absorb blow after blow without ever questioning who delivers them. It's the perfect depoliticization of suffering, now converted into an opportunity to demonstrate your "strength."

This conceptual pair operates as the perfect device of contemporary capitalism: while self-esteem demands you constantly meet market demands, resilience congratulates you for enduring its consequences without rebellion. It's no coincidence that this discourse deliberately confuses submissive optimism with the true enthusiasm that arises from collective struggle and transformation.