Neoliberalism is a caricature of liberalism reduced to a theory of economic organization

Evidence

Neoliberalism is perhaps most tellingly viewed as a sort of caricature of liberalism, where liberal concerns for individual liberty, political equality and human rights have been warped into a purely economic ideology whose concerns lie with the establishment of free markets and in keeping state intervention in such markets at bay. Neoliberalism thus understood is primarily a theory of how the economy ought to be organized, and not a political ideology in the same sense as political liberalism. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2121

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides one influential working definition of neoliberalism as an economic rather than political ideology.
• XREF: Echoes the caricature framing often used against neoliberal doctrine in the later policy literature on austerity and financialization. — connects to: Neoliberalism served interests, never grounded in economic theory; Neoliberalism replaces class analysis with a cynical catechism of limitless self-transformation — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 332; Understanding the rights-neoliberalism convergence requires treating neoliberalism as more than an economic doctrine. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 14 (+11 more)