"Mother Market: Neoliberalism and the Preeminence of Economic Discourse"

by David Ladon
Submitted for Masters in Arts, Social and Cultural Foundations in Education

DePaul University, College of Education

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Mother Market is an arts-based research project that examines economic logic and language within American media and policy discourse.  I wrote and arranged a 10-song album of music that explores the ways in which we have come to accept as natural such phenomena as debt, commercial culture, conspicuous consumption, and environmental waste. By appropriating and employing language used in advertising, media, and policy, I reflect on the meta-narratives that permeate these cultural texts.  In developing a digital platform for Mother Market, one that includes a text and a resources section, I offer an educative tool for students, classroom practitioners, families, and friends to engage in critical and much needed dialogue about how our lives are mediated by economic logic and discourse, and what impact that may have on our social relationships.