Keeping the System Going: Social Design and the Reproduction of Inequalities in Neoliberal Times

Abstract

The reproduction of inequalities is a necessary product of neoliberal economic systems. Meanwhile, attempts to ameliorate this within social design actually perpetuate this situation. This, we argue, is partly due to the institutional configuration of design whose precarious professional norms mitigate against long-term consolidation. Relatedly, this struggle for recognition produces a kind of performativity of social design that draws the focus of practice away from the problems it seeks to address.