Hayek’s academy aimed to build shared belief rather than only disseminate finished scholarship

Evidence

The Mont Pèlerin Society and related networks of neoliberal partisan think tanks can serve as a directory of organized neoliberalism because it is part of a rather novel structure of intellectual discourse. It has been designed to advance and integrate various types of specialized knowledge within and across the confines of philosophy, academic research in economics, history, sociology, and applied policy knowledge in its various forms. … The neoliberal thought collective was structured along different lines from those pursued by the other “epistemic communities” that sought to change people’s minds in the second half of the twentieth century. The international academy Hayek sought was actually designed to create a space where like-minded people who shared philosophical ideas and political ideals could mingle and engage in a process of further education and collective learning dedicated to advancing a common neoliberal cause. The effort of the incipient neoliberal thought collective led to the creation of a comprehensive transnational discourse community. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 85

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s study of how intellectual networks generate policy influence — parallels other epistemic communities literature (Haas) mentioned in the passage itself. — connects to: Hayek and Friedman shared faith that ideas could transform political practice — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 560; Hayek reconciled intellectual credibility with donor accommodation in founding MPS — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 260; Hayek founded MPS to build a worldview insulated from immediate policy pressures — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 307 (+6 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 85

Broader Connections

• Hayek saw journalists and teachers as idea dealers who shape public opinion #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1908
• Neoliberal freedom-of-inquiry rhetoric was aimed at promoting their own market views within academia #corroborates (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 122