Quinn Slobodian, a Boston University professor and author of "Hayek's Bastards," delves into the complex interplay between neoliberalism and right-wing populism. He uncovers how neoliberal thinkers co-opted scientific language to strengthen market ideals while reinforcing social hierarchies. The conversation explores the historical evolution of neoliberal thought, its alliance with populism, and the radical political shifts of the late 20th century. Slobodian also critiques the entwinement of neoliberalism with contemporary movements and highlights the adaptability of its ideology within modern politics.
01:10:26
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Neoliberal Roots of Populist Right
The populist right's rise is rooted in neoliberal intellectual circles, not merely a rejection of neoliberalism.
Key figures around Trump and Brexit often emerged from neoliberal milieus, challenging common narratives of opposition.
insights INSIGHT
Neoliberals' Post-Cold War Enemy
After the Cold War, neoliberals feared a new enemy: progressive politics adopting civil rights, feminism, and environmentalism.
The 1990s fight shifted from communism to resisting 'wokeism' infiltrating institutions and international bodies.
insights INSIGHT
Science Used to Justify Hierarchies
Neoliberals in the 1990s fused free-market ideas with evolutionary biology and genetics to justify social hierarchies.
This 'scientization' of market ideology helped rationalize racial and cultural hierarchies under the guise of science.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In this influential book, Hayek argues that the abandonment of individualism and classical liberalism leads to a loss of freedom, the creation of an oppressive society, and ultimately, the tyranny of a dictator. He challenges the view that fascism and Nazism are capitalist reactions against socialism, instead positing that these ideologies share common roots in central economic planning and the empowerment of the state over the individual. The book emphasizes the dangers of collectivism and the importance of maintaining a free market system to preserve human freedom and dignity.
Hayek's Bastards
Hayek's Bastards
Quinn Slobodian
Voltaire's Bastards
The Dictatorship of Reason in the West
John Ralston Saul
In 'Voltaire's Bastards,' John Ralston Saul dissects the contradictions, delusions, and illusions that have brought the world to the brink of confusion and crisis. The book examines the theology of power embedded in modern conceptions of Reason, arguing that the ascendancy of Reason has led to a world dominated by technocrats and elites who control knowledge and information. Saul critiques the hypocrisies of democracy, the obsession with efficiency and expertise, and the failure of modern societies to address critical issues such as war, economics, and environmental degradation. The book is a call to rethink traditional institutions and notions as we move into a new era[3][4][5].
Globalists
The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism
Quinn Slobodian
In 'Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism,' Quinn Slobodian challenges the common perception that neoliberals aim to shrink government and abolish regulations. Instead, he argues that neoliberalism emerged to redeploy government and regulatory frameworks at a global level to protect and expand capitalism. The book follows a group of thinkers from the ashes of the Habsburg Empire to the formation of the World Trade Organization, highlighting their efforts to create supranational institutions that insulate global markets from national governments and democratic demands. Slobodian's work provides a nuanced analysis of the 'Geneva School' of neoliberalism and its impact on global economic integration and democracy[1][2][5].
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, neoliberalism, with its belief in the virtues of markets and competition, seemed to have triumphed. But in the decades that followed, neoliberalism had a problem: the rise of social movements, from civil rights and feminism to environmentalism, were now proving roadblocks in the road to freedom, nurturing a culture of government dependency, public spending, political correctness and special pleading. Neoliberals needed an antidote.
They found it in nature. Historian Quinn Slobodian explains how neoliberal thinkers drew on the language of science to embed the idea of ‘competition’ ever deeper into social life, to reinstate a hierarchy of gender, race and cultural difference, and to advocate cultural homogeneity as essential for markets to truly work.
Reading and misreading the writings of their sages, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, they forged alliances with racial psychologists, neoconfederates, ethnonationalists that would become known as the alt-right.
Insightful, provocative and expertly-researched, this conversation provides a timely and essential understanding of modern geopolitics.
How To Academy Podcast 
