European neoliberals aimed to depoliticise society by turning proletarians into property-owning entrepreneurs

Evidence

Depoliticising society by transforming proletarians into entrepreneurs had long been a central goal of European neoliberals. Mitigating the ‘sensitivity and instability’ of mass society, according to Roepke, required a policy of ‘decentralization, de-proletarianization, the anchoring of men in their own resources, encouragement to small farmers and small business, increased property ownership, and the strengthening of the middle classes’. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 986

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader austerity/neoliberalism study — the depoliticising-through-homeownership logic echoes chapters on homesteading and the moral economy of property. — connects to: Neoliberalism rebranded itself through property-titling antipoverty programs. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 164; Neoliberalism generalizes the enterprise form across the entire social body — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 823; Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1907 (+3 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies the policy program behind ‘de-proletarianization’ — the concrete instruments (small farms, property, middle-class strengthening) that give the term content.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism generalizes the enterprise form across the entire social body #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 823
• Neoliberalism is activated from below by social actors, not merely imposed from above #expands (0.80) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 530
• Early European neoliberals privileged economic over political freedom #qualifies (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 188
• Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1907
• Neo-neoliberalism achieves ubiquity through replication rather than movement #complicates (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1877