Depoliticizing the economy served to make capitalist relations of production seem indisputable.

Evidence

A fundamental step in this direction was to depoliticize the economy— that is, to abolish any form of state control so that wages would again be subject to impersonal market pressure rather than be prone to political contestation. Looking closely, it emerges that the fi xation of the experts on balanced budgets and on curbing infl ation had a deeper goal: reconfi guring the indisputability of capitalist relations of production, based (as we know) on the pillars of private property and wage relations. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1028

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s overarching thesis that austerity is a class weapon; pairs with the modern ‘technocratic’ depoliticization of economics (Roberts/MIT fiscal rules discourse). — connects to: Capitalist production relations are reproduced socially and ideologically, not just economically; Capitalist relations must be reproduced ideologically, not just economically — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 628; Depoliticizing economics is how the capitalist order sustains itself — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 21 (+4 more)
• ADDENDUM: Reinforces the austerity-as-politics-frame that also underlies ‘On Sacrifice’ — both are about legitimating the transfer of resources to entrenched classes.

Broader Connections

• Depoliticizing economics is how the capitalist order sustains itself #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 21
• Capitalist production relations are reproduced socially and ideologically, not just economically #expands (0.85)
• Capitalism functionally requires excluding citizens from economic decisions. #qualifies (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 372
• Capitalist relations must be reproduced ideologically, not just economically #expands (0.78) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 628
• Power relations interlock with economics without being subordinate to it. #complicates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 33
• Governments conflate capitalist economic rationality with rationality itself. #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 369
• For Marx, economic relations are objective conditions independent of men’s will #expands (0.72)