Neoliberalism redefined liberty as economic rather than political.

Evidence

No longer was the extension of state control perceived as an encroachment on individual liberty; instead, each enlargement of the state’s authority and activity was now to be judged in terms of its positive or negative impact on personal liberty. Furthermore, the liberties that it defended in this way were increasingly conceived in economic, rather than political, terms: free trade and hostility to the corporatism of both employers and trade unions. Through the twentieth century the transition from political to economic freedom became the signature of a neoliberal agenda. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 380

Categorization

• DEFINE: This recasts liberalism’s core shift — from political to economic freedom — which becomes the signature of the neoliberal agenda. Useful for precisely defining what distinguishes neoliberalism from classical liberalism.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s reading of austerity/neoliberalism historiography; this is the intellectual groundwork later thinkers like Hayek, Friedman, and the Chicago School built on. Also connects to the broader tension between state expansion and liberty framing. — connects to: Neoliberalism has no answer for subjects who use liberty against it — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1873; Neoliberal ‘freedom’ is internally redefined to mean market autonomy, not political liberty — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 166; Within neoliberalism, one’s theory of markets determines one’s definition of freedom — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 167 (+21 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 380

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal freedom is recoded as negative liberty to protect market supremacy #expands (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2130
• Economized liberty recasts political power as the enemy of freedom #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 71
• Neoliberalism is a caricature of liberalism reduced to a theory of economic organization #expands (0.70) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2121