Neoliberalism’s durability rested on transforming culture and winning over former opponents

Evidence

Moreover Chile’s social structure had been substantially transformed in ways that seem to confirm the argument of neoliberals that only a profound change in the culture and value system (rather than more ephemeral institutions) would be able to protect the neoliberal trajectory. The final triumph of the neoliberal thought collective was that former opponents eventually came to embrace it, thereby endowing it with new legitimacy. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1607

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that the thought collective’s real goal was cultural transformation, not merely institutions, inverts the standard image of Pinochet-era coercion as the engine of continuity.
• SEED: Angle: ‘the conquest of legitimacy’ — how a thought collective wins by having its enemies internalize its framework rather than by defeating them in debate.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberalism persists through pervasive cultural imagery, not popular political theory — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 246; Neoliberalism’s durability rests on fusing the economic with the cultural — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 298; Neoliberals saw the post-1989 world as a winning proselytizing field — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 553 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism survived by co-opting multiculturalism into marketable identity commodities #exemplifies (0.85) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 185
• Neoliberalism’s deliberate epistemic inconsistencies enabled its long-term success #expands (0.82)
• Treating culture and economics as separate spheres misreads how neoliberalism operates #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 298
• Neoliberalism reshapes cultural incentives by prioritizing extreme profit seeking #expands (0.75)
• Neoliberal continuity survived via pragmatic adjustment, not doctrinal purity #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1615