Neoliberal ‘freedom’ is internally redefined to mean market autonomy, not political liberty

Evidence

Neoliberals extol “freedom” as trumping all other virtues; but the definition of freedom is recoded and heavily edited within their framework. Most neoliberals insist they value “freedom” above all else; but more hairs are split in the definition of freedom than over any other neoliberal concept. This is probably a necessary consequence of the development of other neoliberal tenets, like that covered in thesis 6. It is a little hard to conceptualize freedom for an entity that displays no quiddity or persistence; and most neoliberal discussions of freedom have been cut loose from older notions of individualism. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 166

In ‘On the Jewish Question’, Marx characterised the right to liberty as the right to do anything that does not harm others, and therefore as ‘the right of separation’ of a restricted individual. Liberty, or freedom, is the one value that neoliberal human rights would be expected to serve; but, examined closely, neoliberal freedom is largely indistinguishable from submission to what Mises called ‘the sovereignty of the market’. Unlike political sovereignty, the neoliberals saw market sovereignty as compatible with individual freedom. But they also maintained that the sovereign market requires individuals to adjust themselves to its imperatives, which means sacrificing egalitarianism and eschewing the project of collective freedom. They believed that adjustment to the demands of the market was primarily secured by price fluctuations – that is, by what Marx called the ‘silent compulsion of economic relations’. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 47

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines how the NTC recodes ‘freedom’ away from older individualist and political meanings.
• XREF: Connects to Ambedkar and Marx material on how formal freedom masks structural constraint; also to Mises-derived critiques of public common sense reproducing pro-establishment views. — connects to: Pollock located capitalism’s crisis mechanism in market autonomy, not ownership — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1168; Leading neoliberals defended restricting political freedom to preserve economic freedom — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 500; Neoliberalism has no answer for subjects who use liberty against it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1873 (+29 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 166; Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 47

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism redefined liberty as economic rather than political. #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 380
• Within neoliberalism, one’s theory of markets determines one’s definition of freedom #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 167
• Neoliberal freedom is recoded as negative liberty to protect market supremacy #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2130
• Neoliberal freedom is confined to market-compatible choices within a predetermined margin #expands (0.80)
• Neoliberals conditioned self-government on accepting market discipline #corroborates (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 297
• Neoliberals restrict freedom to negative freedom to shield market epistemology from scrutiny #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 169
• Neoliberalism’s social theory is fundamentally epistemological, recoding freedom as instrumental to independent orders #qualifies (0.75)
• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination #complicates (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153