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Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction

Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Neoliberalism has become a hegemonic discourse with pervasive effects on ways of thought and political-economic practices to the point where it is now part of the commonsense way we interpret, live in, and understand the world. How did neoliberalism achieve such an exalted status, and what does it stand for? In this article, the author contends that neoliberalism is above all a project to restore class dominance to sectors that saw their fortunes threatened by the ascent of social democratic endeavors in the aftermath of the Second World War. Although neoliberalism has had limited effectiveness as an engine for economic growth, it has succeeded in channeling wealth from subordinate classes to dominant ones and from poorer to richer countries. This process has entailed the dismantling of institutions and narratives that promoted more egalitarian distributive measures in the preceding era.

Key Words: neoliberalism • globalization • fiscalization • class dominance • subordination

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 610, No. 1, 21-44 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0002716206296780


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