I am interested in Moral Underclass Discourse; the concept that individuals are autonomous actors in society with employment opportunities offered to them by the state, yet ‘choose’ to live outside of society’s norms by rejecting these opportunities. How this implies that welfare claiments are therefore ideologically different to the rest of society and belong to a moral underclass. I would like to continue my research focusing on the effects of Neoliberalism upon language and build upon the work undertaken in Ilcea4 during my Master in langues, littératures, civilisations étrangères et régionales.

My objective is to better define how perceptions and value judgments are shaped in relation to concepts of equality via langage. To research this I propose a cross-country analysis of discourse, using quantitative and qualitative methodology to examin the extent to which neoliberalism has an impact on identity.  Uncovering citizen heuristics in relation to unemployment may help us better understand the impact of market-related discourse and reflect the extent to which a society is protected from commodification by taking into account the welfare system in place and the opportunities offered outside of neoliberal discourse.