I feel as if there is a little wreck-less use of terminology here, but still, it is always nice to hear from people across the pond.

@GeeSussFreeK, what's the terminology difference? Wikipedia is talking about the same Neoliberalism as Dumenil is.

He seems to be talking about something else and using the word neoliberalism, or that is what I was getting out of his talk. Academically speaking, neoliberalism dates back much, much further than 1980 which he seemed to propose, moreover there is hardly a consensuses on what is "correct" neoliberalism. Perhaps something was lost in translation and he meant to say this is when the last real bastions of classical "libertarian" liberalism died (the USA) and "central planned" neoliberalism took its finally ideological rival captive?

I tried to find some information on things this person has published to clear some light on the subject, but alas I don't speak french so my search is slightly stymied.

Edit: Here we go, found a whole bunch of his stuff. http://www.jourdan.ens.fr/levy/biblioa.htm#AN1992
Going to read some and see if I can find some insight

@GeeSussFreeK, again, he's talking about what the Wikipedia link was talking about, neoliberalism.

I'm not sure what the source of your confusion is -- this is what people mean when they talk about neoliberalism. The brand of economics and political philosophy that's at the base of what we Americans think of as conservative economic ideology.

It has roots in classical economics and classical liberalism, which far predate the 1980's, but that's why it's neoliberalism.

Again, I dunno what you mean by "correct" neoliberalism. There's variation about things like monetary policy, and what specific spending, taxes, and regulation should be cut, and which should stay, but the general thrust of the movement is that it should be aiming for as close to zero as you can get.

man i really want to solve this.

I have to point out there is a difference between the wiki entry of neoliberalism and the politically charged use that Dumenil puts the same word to.

Hell this is the second time i've typed this comment, the first time my comment just looked stupid. maybe if i put a link to grammar and lingusitics in the footnote. would that make me look smart?

http://pulsemedia.org/2010/01/28/oprahs-neoliberal-empire/
interesting on how oprah's self help B.S. is the quintessential neo-liberal philosopy

I also found an fascinating blog on how the Jersey Shore TV show is neoliberalism applied to sex.

Apparently the jersey shore boys will leave the their female company, cruise the beach and invite more girls to the hot tub. Doing this, blatantly, right in front of their female guests. Treating sex as a commodity is apparently applying neoliberal values to sex.

Kind of like having a laid off worker train his overseas replacement.

>> ^marinara:

man i really want to solve this.
I have to point out there is a difference between the wiki entry of neoliberalism and the politically charged use that Dumenil puts the same word to.

Dumenil says politically charged things about neoliberalism. It's not that he's using the word "neoliberalism" incorrectly, he's saying things about it that are somewhat inflammatory.

For example, your article on Oprah being a "neoliberal icon", well, they're not really using neoliberalism incorrectly, though I don't really think it's fair to paint Oprah as being part of the cult of neoliberalism because she promotes people taking direct action to solve problems on an individual basis.

Neoliberalism is more about saying that that's the only way anything should ever be solved, and fighting back against attempts to put problems like poverty and environmental stewardship under the purview of the state (because they believe it will always be a net drag on any such efforts).

If Oprah starts saying things like "Medicaid does more to harm to the poor than it does to help them", then I'm fully on board with calling her a neoliberal.