Neoliberalism is a hegemonic social discourse, which is conceptualized as self-evident and is considered as common sense. One of the main imperatives of neoliberalism is competition, which is legitimated through neoliberalism's and its own self-evidency. Therefore, the main aim of my thesis is to research the effect of competition in neoliberalism on social ties, for which I assume are a foundation of a cohesive society. Through a short historical analysis of neoliberalism I examine its and competition’s influence on the neoliberal state as a state as an enterprise. With Althusser’s concepts of ideology and idelogical interpelation and with Foucault’s conceptualization of subjectivation and the concept of the individual as an entrepreneur of the self I problematize the impact of neoliberalism and competition on the subject in neoliberalism. I than consider competition as part of the economic tie, which in neoliberalism penetrates into all of the social spheres. Through its inherent precariousness and uncertainty it introduces a decomposing momentum, which social ties, that aren’t based on selfish individual interests, have to confront.
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