Neoliberalism as concept

2015/04/03 by Rajesh Venugopal · 5 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Economic Theory and Policy #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Political Economy and Marxism

paper · doi:10.1080/03085147.2015.1013356

openalex publication_date 2015/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

This paper is a critical exploration of the of the term neoliberalism. Drawing on a wide range of literature across the critical social sciences and with particular emphasis on the political economy of development, it evaluates the consequences of the term's proliferation and expanded usage since the 1980s. It advances a case that neoliberalism has become a deeply problematic and incoherent term that has multiple and contradictory meanings, and thus has diminished analytical value. In addition, the paper also explores the one-sided, morally laden usage of the term by non-economists to describe economic phenomena, and the way that this serves to signify and reproduce the divide between economics and the rest of the social sciences.

Citations

• A Brief History of Neoliberalism
• The Rebirth of the Liberal Creed: Paths to Neoliberalism in Four Countries
• Three steps to a historical anthropology of actually existing neoliberalism
• 'The birth of bio-politics': Michel Foucault's lecture at the Collège de France on neo-liberal governmentality
• Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics
• Neo-liberalism: Policy, Ideology, Governmentality
• Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Government

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• NEPA “Modernization”: From the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration
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• The Unresolved Tensions of Post-Neoliberal Argentina: Inequalities, Structures, and Compensations (2003–2015)