Neoliberalism paired deregulation with social conservatism to shift welfare onto families

Evidence

One might also assume that the sphere of personal sexual freedom would be honored as sacrosanct by neoliberals on the principle of live-and-let-live as long as lifestyle choices could be commodified and marketed. In fact, as Melinda Cooper shows, neoliberal thinkers promoted various forms of intervention into the private sphere of kinship and marriage on the principle of offloading (and financializing) state responsibilities for welfare onto the family unit. Actual existing neoliberalism in the US since the Reagan era has required the parallel discourse of social conservatism. Far from simply dissolving society down to atomistic consumer-entrepreneurs, family ties and family values were necessary to substitute for the shredded social safety net. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 37

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the genealogy of ‘family values’ as a fiscal offloading device rather than a moral crusade — links Reagan-era economics to the privatization of care.
• XREF: Connects to Cooper’s own book Family Values (2017) and to the ADDENDUM article on moral panics over immodesty as class/identity signaling. — connects to: American neoliberals saw family altruism as a substitute for the welfare state — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 213; Welfare backlash married neoconservative moral fears to neoliberal inflation anxieties — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 228; Neoliberal economists saw the family as a privatized insurance that welfare destroyed — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 239 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal welfare attacks racialized dependency and framed the family as women’s natural sphere #expands (0.90) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 175
• Neoliberal paternalism in welfare traces back to 1930s European neoliberals, not 1980s social conservatism #contradicts (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 216
• Neoliberals attacked welfare as a threat to family, race, and dignity #expands (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 178
• Decades of neoliberal reform reinstated the family as first-line welfare provider #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 260
• Neoliberals endorsed state coercion to enforce kinship obligations over income redistribution #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 212
• Neoliberals gendered welfare dependency as emasculating female domestic servitude #expands (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 177
• Reagan’s California welfare reform enacted neoliberal family-responsibility policies #exemplifies (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 242
• Neoliberals opposed no-fault divorce to force families to absorb social costs #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 241
• Family loyalty is central, not marginal, to American neoliberal welfare theory #expands (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 213