Study examines the impact of neoliberalism on oral health of Australian indigenous peoples

A study examining the detrimental effect of neoliberalism on the oral health of Australian indigenous peoples will be presented by Brianna Poirer of the University of Adelaide, Australia during the “Keynote Address; Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network I” session on Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 at 3:45 p.m. China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) at the 100^th General Session and Exhibition of the IADR, to be held in conjunction with the 5th Meeting of the IADR Asia Pacific Region.

In Australia, Indigenous peoples experience poorer oral health than their non-Indigenous counterparts across nearly every oral health metric. Recently, neoliberalism has been suggested as an overwhelming contributor to Indigenous oral health disparities. The objective of this qualitative research was to generate an understanding of how neoliberal subjectivity exists for Indigenous peoples in the context of oral health in Australia.

Interviews from 177 participants were analyzed and contributed to the generation of a conceptual model with two components. The embodiment of neoliberal subjectivity was expressed as experiences of ownership, guilt, failure, embarrassment, shame, and judgment. Participants identified factors that exacerbated the experience of neoliberal subjectivity, which included bullying, financial limitations, and institutional racism. Components of the conceptual model largely relate to the neoliberal ideology of personal responsibility.

The authors argue that personal responsibility for health, as a tenet of neoliberal ideologies, furthers Indigenous oral health inequities and that neoliberalism as a societal discourse perpetuates colonial values by benefitting the privileged and further oppressing the disadvantaged.

View this Interactive Talk in the IADR General Session Virtual Experience Platform.