Non-philosophy disciplines have best grasped everyday neoliberal consciousness

Evidence

It is not that many of these writers don’t realize that neoliberalism has become entrenched at a very personal level of existence: indeed, Foucault is often credited with having insisted upon that very notion. However, the proposition, if contemplated at all, has mostly been explored at an austere level of abstraction—for instance, Foucault himself comments upon the theoretical writings of Gary Becker and the German ordoliberals; he was seemingly uninterested in how the dynamics actually played out at ground level. One might have expected Foucauldians to pursue that option; the next section inquires why this apparently hasn’t happened. Consequently, as Konings suggests, it has not been the political theorists or philosophers who have made the greatest strides toward understanding everyday neoliberalism; rather, progress has been made by a motley clique from anthropology, business schools, marketing agencies, law schools, and cultural studies who have explored the contemporary contours of neoliberal consciousness. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 253

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the reader’s ‘thought collective’ angle — who got furthest understanding everyday neoliberalism contra the Foucauldian mainstream. Also ties to other treatments of Foucault’s lectures on biopolitics and Becker. — connects to: Neoliberalism is transmitted through everyday consumer encounters, not texts — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 431; Neoliberalism absorbed natural-science metaphors to become a comprehensive worldview beyond economics — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 153; Practical consciousness is non-reflective and discloses the world as instrumentality
• QUESTION: Why exactly haven’t Foucauldians pursued ground-level dynamics? The next section is flagged as pursuing this — worth checking the chapter’s own answer.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism is transmitted through everyday consumer encounters, not texts #corroborates (0.83) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 431
• Practical consciousness is non-reflective and discloses the world as instrumentality #qualifies (0.80)
• Neoliberalism absorbed natural-science metaphors to become a comprehensive worldview beyond economics #expands (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 153