Rights advocacy aimed at forestalling revolt repeats neoliberalism’s original pacifying mission

Evidence

In advocating social and economic rights to rectify the inequality and economic insecurity that has ‘laid the groundwork for popular revolt’, and in calling on the international financial institutions to forestall such revolt, Alston’s new agenda for human rights ultimately remains consistent with previous attempts to moralise capitalism and pacify the ‘revolt of the masses’, which was the central concern of neoliberalism in the middle of the twentieth century. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 456

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s interest in human-rights discourse as a channel for market ethics; also evokes the ‘revolt of the masses’ theme found in mid-century liberal thought like Ortega y Gasset. — connects to: Modern human rights NGOs narrowed their agenda to civil liberties under neoliberal ascendancy — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 148; Rights-based anti-neoliberal struggle can inadvertently entrench the market — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 66; TV rights NGOs were powerless companions of 1970s-era neoliberalism — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 43
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does Alston’s UN special rapporteur record actually engage with the IFIs’ role in producing the inequality he critiques?
• ADDENDUM: Strong supporting material for the ‘On Sacrifice’ article — the pacification of the masses motif parallels ritual mechanisms that stabilize stratified societies.

Broader Connections

• Rights-based anti-neoliberal struggle can inadvertently entrench the market #complicates (0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 66