Hayek sought a liberal utopia framed as radicalism, not defence of the status quo

Evidence

In The Road to Serfdom Hayek’s vigorous condemnations of laissezfaire had served to remind his readers that his argument was not a simple restatement of ideas that had long been out of fashion. He now wanted to move toward a more specifi c, visionary repre sen ta tion of his worldview. “What we lack is a liberal Utopia,” he wrote in the late 1940s, “a program which seems neither a mere defence of things as they are nor a diluted kind of socialism, but a truly liberal radicalism.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 275

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the tension in The Road to Serfdom and connects to later neoliberals’ aspirational framing, e.g., Milton Friedman’s positive vision. — connects to: Hayek blamed foreign ideas, not democracy itself, for liberalism’s decline. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 381; The Right’s liberal-and-traditionalist mix is coherent in Hayek’s doctrine — Wendy Brown, In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise…, 125
• SEED: An essay angle: how self-described radicals on the free-market right adopted the language of utopia to reframe themselves against both reactionaries and socialists.

Broader Connections

• Hayek blamed foreign ideas, not democracy itself, for liberalism’s decline. #qualifies (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 381