Hayek’s Road to Serfdom grew from a wartime effort against left-wing scientists.

Evidence

Both Hayek and Polanyi were looking for ways to defeat the “scientism” and “scientific socialism” which they felt dominated the media and the public intelligentsia, thanks to the well-disposed editorship of Nature and the BBC. … But to a large extent, it amounted to a wartime effort against the left scientists in England who occupied vital positions within the wartime government, continued to influence the general public, and met regularly to discuss their views in the Tots & Quots discussion group. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 80

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how ideological projects crystallize against specific adversaries — parallels the genealogy approach of prior Mirowski work on the neoliberal thought collective. — connects to: Hayek’s Road to Serfdom was a wartime campaign against socialist scientists in England — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 80; Wartime despair over collectivism’s ascendancy animated Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 203

Broader Connections

• Hayek’s Road to Serfdom was a wartime campaign against socialist scientists in England #corroborates (0.95) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 80
• Wartime despair over collectivism’s ascendancy animated Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. #expands (0.85) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 203