Neoliberalism emerged across the mid-twentieth century, not as a 1980s rebellion

Evidence

Here is Foucault formulating neoliberalism not as a 1980s political rebellion by new-Right populists, not as a vision heralded by a specific set of political leaders and economic craftsmen in the century’s final decades, but rather as an “emergence” over the second and third quarters of the twentieth century, already “the program of most governments of capitalist countries” at the time of his lectures. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 86

Categorization

• XREF: This challenges the common periodization that ties neoliberalism’s origin to Thatcher and Reagan; connects to David Harvey’s Brief History of Neoliberalism and other periodization debates. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s 1980s breakthrough rested on decades of prior institutional groundwork — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 128; American neoliberalism matured in the mid-1970s by reviving poor law, not in the 1930s — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 215; Neoliberalism’s origins long predate the 1980s Democratic Party. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 21 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal development thought began decades before its late-1970s influence. #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1264
• Neoliberalism suppressed its own origins as a new doctrine by the late 1950s #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2136