Neoliberalism makes the enterprise the formative power of society, not merely an economic policy.

Evidence

As a subject becomes a field of enterprises, society is oriented “toward the multiplicity and differentiation of enterprises,” rather than toward the exchange of commodities. Foucault adds that multiplying “the enterprise form within the social body is what is at stake in neoliberal policy” and what makes neoliberalism much more than a set of economic policies. Rather, “it is a matter of making the market, competition, and so the enterprise, into what could be called the formative power of society.” — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 120

Categorization

• DEFINE: Positions enterprise as the ‘formative power of society’ under neoliberalism.
• XREF: connects to: Neo-liberal society above the threshold makes every individual an enterprise for himself. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1081; Neoliberalism is a governing rationality, not just economic policy or ideology. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 14; Neoliberalism generalizes the economic form across the entire social field, unlike classical liberalism. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 105 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism generalizes the enterprise form across the entire social body #corroborates (0.95) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 823
• Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 80
• Capitalism becomes a whole form of social life through the superstructures, not just production. #corroborates (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 526
• Neoliberalism advanced a political, not merely economic, case for the competitive market #corroborates (0.78) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 34
• Neoliberal freedom can be a vehicle for governance and domination #qualifies (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 153
• Ordoliberal enterprise society is simultaneously for and against the market #qualifies (0.75) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1268
• Capitalist production relations are reproduced socially and ideologically, not just economically #exemplifies (0.72)
• Neoliberal governance reshapes scholarship to serve economic usefulness #exemplifies (0.72) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 626