Neoliberal theorists opposed the UDHR as a false bureaucratic universalism

Evidence

The neoliberals believed that a market-conforming social policy must not stifle the system of risks and incentives that produced familial responsibility and submission to the market. Concretely, this meant that any government payments must be minimalist (sufficient to prevent destitution, but no more) and targeted at the poorest citizens through strict means-testing. There could be no universal provision, no expectation of social insurance ‘as of right’, and certainly no use of welfare to redistribute wealth in the interest of greater equality. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 208 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The UDHR’s social and economic rights were sharply opposed by early neoliberals as totalitarian.; Neoliberal policy requires means-tested minimalism and bans universal provision — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 208; Neoliberals framed welfare states as existential threats to individual rights and civilisation (+2 more)

Related

• Neoliberal policy requires means-tested minimalism and bans universal provision (similarity 0.92)
• The UDHR’s social and economic rights were sharply opposed by early neoliberals as totalitarian. (similarity 0.87)
• Neoliberals saw economic rights as a path toward totalitarianism (similarity 0.84)
• Neoliberal development framed egalitarian welfare norms as obstacles to be overcome (similarity 0.84)
• Neoliberals rejected universal human-rights consensus as a civilisational regression toward tribal morality. (similarity 0.83)
• The UDHR’s flexible social rights language proved compatible with neoliberal poverty management (similarity 0.83)
• Neoliberal ‘economic rights’ protect capital’s market freedom, not welfare entitlements. (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberals tarred Third World redistribution schemes as totalitarian (similarity 0.81)
• Postwar human rights and neoliberal orders began from deep disagreement over welfare and planning. (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberals framed welfare states as existential threats to individual rights and civilisation (similarity 0.81)
• The UDHR’s welfare subject was a white male breadwinner, not a universal person (similarity 0.81)
• UDHR social rights were compatible with market order, not a threat to it (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberal welfare critics rejected rising living standards as equalizing (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberal thought framed welfare rights as contradicting rather than completing civil rights (similarity 0.80)
• The UDHR’s social and economic rights were designed to pacify, not radicalize (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal policy requires means-tested minimalism and bans universal provision #expands (0.78) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 208
• Neoliberals framed welfare states as existential threats to individual rights and civilisation #exemplifies (0.72)