Neoliberalism dominates by default, leaving its ideology contestable

Evidence

What’s certain is that we are now in an ideological wasteland in which neoliberalism is dominant only by default. The terrain is up for grabs, and Friedman’s remark should be our inspiration: it is now our task to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1745

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to Fisher’s famous capitalist-realism thesis (alternatives feel impossible); here Fisher makes the pragmatic rebuttal. — connects to: Neoliberalism is a contested but usable analytical category rather than a fixed ideology — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 15; Neoliberalism endures as a zombie ideology that resisters cannot easily kill — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1711; Neoliberalism’s political strength partly derives from being poorly understood — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 81 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: Written between the 2008 crash and 2016; does this ‘by default’ dominance claim still hold given the right’s harder ideological capture of neoliberalism’s ground? Worth checking his essay dates.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism’s political strength partly derives from being poorly understood #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 81
• Bifurcating politics and economics undermines left critique of neoliberalism #complicates (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 431
• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination #qualifies (0.72) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153