Neoliberal scholars redefined their target as the entrepreneurial function, not individual entrepreneurs

Evidence

Firstly, neoliberal scholars used survey studies in different countries to direct attention to challenges and to offer solutions to contrast negative images. Secondly, they developed clarity about the need to defend economic freedom and the market system as a whole rather than the individual entrepreneur; the entrepreneurship function rather than the particular person. Thirdly, they clarified the sources of negative images of entrepreneurs, ranging from educators, trade unions, tax officials to intellectuals, which served also to develop agendas adequate to address particular audiences (e.g. teachers, journalists) in addition to the general public. This job was given to the growing army of neoliberal think tanks. Fourthly, authors ascertained the positive roles and functions of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship both at the micro and at the macroeconomic level. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 289

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the recurring distinction in neoliberal historiography between individual actors and systemic functions — parallels Mirowski’s treatment of the neoliberal ‘thought collective’ versus individual market actors. — connects to: Neoliberal entrepreneurship theory holds that institutions, not individuals, create entrepreneurial supply — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 307; Neoliberal development theory saw poverty as institutional failure in cultivating entrepreneurial — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 408

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal development theory saw poverty as institutional failure in cultivating entrepreneurial #expands (0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 408