The Mont Pèlerin Society shifted from elite academia toward business interests

Evidence

The Mont Pèlerin Society Röpke left behind at his death was in many ways unlike the one he had helped establish in the years after World War II. A society originally defi ned by its elite academic character had become, in the words of one of its members, “a businessmen’s sort of trade association meeting.” In 1947 only fi ve of its members were active academics born in North America, which gave rise to Hayek’s initial concerns that the society was too exclusively oriented toward continental Eu rope; by the time of Röpke’s death one member observed “within the Society an underlying suspicion, mistrust and even fear, of Anglo- Saxon, or more properly, Anglo- American domination.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 374

Categorization

• XREF: Tracks the professionalization and business-world capture of the neoliberal network — parallels later work on think tanks and corporate funding of the movement. — connects to: Founding Mont Pèlerin members became alienated by the society’s later trajectory — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 562; Early Mont Pèlerin Society activity depended on small ideological think tanks for funding — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1454; Corporate money shaped Mont Pèlerin debates by steering theory toward practical business problems — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 955 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Corporate money shaped Mont Pèlerin debates by steering theory toward practical business problems #corroborates (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 955
• Early Mont Pèlerin Society activity depended on small ideological think tanks for funding #corroborates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1454