What is neoliberalism? I first heard the term six months ago but have since encountered it on a daily basis. To understand the analyses that will be posted later on this site, we have to understand this, which is the main reason for the social problems that I will be criticizing. I want to be clear that both major parties, Republicans and Democrats, have, in many ways, adopted neoliberal outlooks.
At its most basic, neoliberalism is the ideology that market values should govern society. Market values include the idea that everyone is rational & independent. They reject helping others (whether through government entitlement or charity) because that distorts "market prices." Neoliberalism has been able to thrive in American society because it fits well with our American Dream of "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps."
At its most basic, neoliberalism is the ideology that market values should govern society. Market values include the idea that everyone is rational & independent. They reject helping others (whether through government entitlement or charity) because that distorts "market prices." Neoliberalism has been able to thrive in American society because it fits well with our American Dream of "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps."
| However, the American Dream is an illusion. Inequality is at all-time highs in America, while upward class mobility has shrunk. The criminal justice system is incredibly racist, not only because of a trend of police officers shooting unarmed black men but because black men are also far more likely to be incarcerated. (For more information, I strongly recommend Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow.) And, as Henry Giroux points out eloquently in many of his books, America's youth in general are being attacked - criminalized and burdened with insane amounts of student debt. |