Ability or identity: tensions between neoliberal and raciolinguistic ideologies at work for young bilingual Latinxs in the US

This paper explores the tension between neoliberal linguistic ideologies that foreground the economic value of languages in the globalized economy and the raciolinguistic ideologies through which race and language are co-naturalized. We focus on the labormarket in theUS, analyzing the experiences of young Latinx professionalswho, inspired by the ideology of the bilingual advantage, expect to profit from their language skills in the job market. Drawing on political economy and on semi-structured interviews and surveys to 23 young Latinxs, we analyze two concrete labor practices to illustrate the tension between (1) the conceptualization of language knowledge as a component of the "bundle of skills" that neoliberal workers are expected to possess (and employers supposed to compensate), and (2) the essentialization of the language skills of racialized andworking-class subjects, which are taken-for-granted and dissociated from personal or academic merit (and, therefore, undeserved of economic compensation). In addition, we explore the relationship between the affective dimension of linguistic practices and the convergence of work and pleasure proposed by the neoliberal regime. The first example that we analyze is the corroboration of Spanish knowledge in job interviews, where linguistic abilities are commonly not seen as professional skills that require verification, but as identity attributes easily assessed by profiling the candidates. The second situation that we study is the recurrent practice of assigning Latinxs extra language work, a naturalized practice that is not opposed or questioned by bilingual workers. We conclude that if neoliberalism highlights the economic value of languages, racialized speakers do not profit from it as traditional racial hierarchies and linguistic authority remain unchallenged.