Neoliberal power works by interiorizing relations that subjects read as freedom

Evidence

Foucault is clearly intrigued by the “freedom” that liberalism and neoliberalism promise. He knows we can be governed through such freedom, but refuses the Marxist point that what is being named as freedom elides and even discursively inverts crucial powers of domination. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

For these rich men, freedom was not the power to make choices; freedom was the power to create choices. England created the choices, the policies American elites had to abide by, just as planters created choices and policies that laborers had to follow. Only power gave Jefferson and other wealthy White colonists freedom from England. For Jefferson, power came before freedom. Indeed, power creates freedom, not the other way around—as the powerless are taught. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 273 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Whatever else it betokens in the neoliberal pantheon, it is axiomatic that freedom can only be “negative” for neoliberals (in the sense of Isaiah Berlin), for one very important reason. Freedom cannot be extended from the use of knowledge in society to the use of knowledge about society, because self-examination concerning why one passively accepts local and incomplete knowledge leads to contemplation of how market signals create some forms of knowledge and squelch others. Meditation upon our limitations leads to inquiry into how markets work, and metareflection on our place in larger orders, something that neoliberals warn is beyond our ken. Knowledge then assumes global institutional dimensions, and this undermines the key doctrine of the market as transcendental superior information processor. Conveniently, “freedom” does not extend to principled rejection of the neoliberal insurgency. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 169 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberal power works so invisibly that the subject believes it is free — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 44; Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 153; Neoliberalism’s social theory is fundamentally epistemological, recoding freedom as instrumental to independent orders (+12 more)

Related

• Neoliberal domination works by making subjects act on themselves and call it freedom (similarity 0.88)
• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination (similarity 0.87)
• Neoliberal power works so invisibly that the subject believes it is free (similarity 0.86)
• Neoliberalism framed itself as a defence of individual freedom against all collectivist systems. (similarity 0.84)
• Within neoliberalism, one’s theory of markets determines one’s definition of freedom (similarity 0.84)
• Neoliberal power hides subjugation so completely that subjects believe they are free. (similarity 0.83)
• Neoliberal freedom is recoded as negative liberty to protect market supremacy (similarity 0.83)
• Economized liberty recasts political power as the enemy of freedom (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberalism frames free choice as exercised through secured commercial interaction. (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberal freedom is confined to market-compatible choices within a predetermined margin (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberal ‘freedom’ is internally redefined to mean market autonomy, not political liberty (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberals redefine freedom as something to be limited and detached from democracy (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberal freedom amounts to submission to market sovereignty enforced by price fluctuations (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberals restrict freedom to negative freedom to shield market epistemology from scrutiny (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberalism’s social theory is fundamentally epistemological, recoding freedom as instrumental to independent orders (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination #corroborates (0.92) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153
• Power creates freedom, not the other way around. #corroborates (0.90) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 273
• Neoliberalism’s social theory is fundamentally epistemological, recoding freedom as instrumental to independent orders #expands (0.85)
• Neoliberals restrict freedom to negative freedom to shield market epistemology from scrutiny #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 169
• Freedom is realized through social relations and dies when institutional forces deform them #contradicts (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 490
• Neoliberal freedom is recoded as negative liberty to protect market supremacy #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2130
• Neoliberalism frames free choice as exercised through secured commercial interaction. #expands (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1788
• Neoliberal ‘freedom’ is internally redefined to mean market autonomy, not political liberty #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 166
• Human rights law and neoliberal economics converge to regulate conduct by quantifying freedom #expands (0.80)
• Neoliberalism’s ultimate ideal self is the autonomous self-made individual #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 430