Confidence Culture

Shani Orgad is Professor of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of Heading Home: Motherhood, Work, and the Failed Promise of Equality. Rosalind Gill is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at City, University of London, and author of Gender and the Media.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Confidence Imperative 1 1. Body Confidence 29 2. Confidence at Work 56 3. Confident Relating 76 4. Confident Mothering 100 5. Confidence without Borders 124 Conclusion: Beyond Confidence 143 Notes 163 Bibliography 203 Index 229

"Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill's brilliant study of the intersections within and between 'confidence culture' and neoliberal capitalism makes a vital contribution to how we think about gender, the body, and media. Complicating analyses on both the media representation and the user applications of the contemporary confidence movement, this crucially important book will appeal to media studies, American studies, and feminist scholars as well as a wide public audience." - Sarah Banet-Weiser, author of (Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny) "Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals." - M. M. Ferree (Choice) "Confidence Culture offers critical feminist insight into the conditions shaping our existence, experiences and our feelings. . . . An absolute necessity for scholars of gender, media studies, sociology and other interdisciplinary areas." - Ipsita Pradhan (LSE Review of Books) "Confidence Culture is sure to be of interest to cultural studies scholars, particularly those studying the machinations of modern feminism. The authors' examination of a seemingly uplifting turn in popular culture exposes how oppressive systems of power persist even in these contexts; rather than empowering women, this phenomenon prompts women to reevaluate their identities to avoid blame and hides neoliberal ideologies behind feminism optics." - Amy Whiteside (Cultural Studies)