Failing to settle on a shared label fractured the nascent neoliberal movement.

Evidence

The continual focus on matters of wording at the “Colloque Lippmann,” which might seem at fi rst consideration trivial, attested to the importance of developing a single rubric to encompass the various members of an ideological group. The relationship between movements and terminology is reciprocal: just as movements create terms to describe the projects they have undertaken, terms provide a conceptual umbrella around which their disparate members can unite. Later generations would develop additional allegiances around the terms “classical liberalism,” “libertarianism,” and “conservatism” and engage in ongoing battles about how best to defi ne the set of beliefs they shared. The failure of the participants in the “Colloque Lippmann” at this moment to name themselves generated a problem that would plague the movement in later years, as in the absence of a shared reference its members increasingly identifi ed themselves with divergent labels and focused intensively on the differences their respective choices entailed. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 186

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the general sociological point that movements and their terminology are reciprocally constitutive, echoing how religious schisms often hinge on naming disputes. — connects to: Disputes over the word neoliberalism signaled real disagreement over its content — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 294; Neutral intellectual framing and activist positioning were in tension within the early neoliberal movement — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1468; Neoliberalism is internally diverse and marked by real internal conflict — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 45

Broader Connections

• Disputes over the word neoliberalism signaled real disagreement over its content #expands (0.92) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 294
• Neoliberalism is internally diverse and marked by real internal conflict #expands (0.82) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 45
• Neutral intellectual framing and activist positioning were in tension within the early neoliberal movement #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1468