Neoliberal Discourse in Italy and European Integration: The Jobs Act and the Pensions Reform

The paper aims to analyze how in Italy – as in the European Union – the neoliberal discourse tries to create consent on certain social, political and economic assumptions. Analysing the public discourse of Italian governments related to the Jobs Act (2014-15) and the pensions reform (2011), the paper underlines their neoliberal inspiration and the attempt to build common sense on competitiveness, economic growth, free market, deregulation, social spending, debt sustainability, austerity, employment, supporting a notion of general interest and social priority. But ideas are never neutral, and they could legitimize inequalities and the power of dominant classes.