Re: [PEN-L] query: neoliberals

2007-11-12 Thread Jim Devine
thanks. I've decided to keep calling them "neoliberals." I see
"neoclassical economics" as type of economics and neoliberalism as a
political ideology. The overlap of these two sets is largely what I
call the "Ekon," those crude economists who dominate textbooks and
policy discussions. (Marx would have called them vulgar economists.)

There are neoclassicals who aren't neoliberals (like Sen?) and
neoliberals who aren't neoclassicals (like the Austrian school).

On Nov 12, 2007 7:19 AM, Gernot Koehler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>  How about "market fundamentalism"?
> GK
> -
>
> Jim D. wrote:
> in my never-ending battle against the use of clichés, I'm looking for a new
> synonym for "neoliberal" and "neoliberalism." I think "marketron" is a good
> replacement for "neoliberalism," but "marketronism" is too clumsy. Any
> ideas?
> 
> Are you ready for Windows Live Messenger Beta 8.5 ? Get the latest for free
> today!



-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.


Re: [PEN-L] query: neoliberals

2007-11-12 Thread Gernot Koehler

How
about “market fundamentalism”?
GK
-
Jim D.
wrote:
in my
never-ending battle against the use of clichés, I'm looking for a new synonym
for "neoliberal" and "neoliberalism." I think "marketron"
is a good replacement for "neoliberalism," but "marketronism"
is too clumsy. Any ideas?


_
Are you ready for Windows Live Messenger Beta 8.5 ? Get the latest for free 
today!
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Re: [PEN-L] query: neoliberals

2007-11-11 Thread Jim Devine
Carrol Cox wrote:
> I usually think of clichés as semi-dead metaphors, or at least phrases
> (rather than single words) that if looked at 'feel' like a metaphor.
> Neoliberalism was/is not a metaphor, and if it is objectionable I
> suspect that the diagnosis is not that it's a cliche (any more than
> water is a cliche for h20) but a misnomer to begin with, a misnomer,
> however, grounded in the ambiguity of the stem term, "liberal."
> "Liberal" has always been used in fairly contradictory senses, so
> NEOliberal was bound to be vague.

thanks. I don't think all clichés are semi-dead metaphors, since (at
least among the left) neoliberalism is a cliché.

Neoliberalism has a clear meaning, at least to me: it's a revival of
classical (19th century) free-market liberalism. It's confusing,
however, since its name is so similar to the main alternative version
of liberalism: New Deal liberalism (US "soft" social democracy).

For me the meaning of liberalism is clear. It's a political philosophy
(or ideology, if you will) which treats society as if it were a
collection of a large number of roughly equal individuals (or
individual families) and asks: "what's the public interest?" It's
exemplified by social contract theory (Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau).

> I guess I'm suggesting that the problem is not the presence of a cliché
> but the _absence_ of one, i.e., of a technical term (jargon) of
> sufficient precision.
>
> But isn't that the problem with _all_ the major terms of political,
> social, or economic debate and/or analysis? We just have continually to
> explain _some_ of our labels each time we write to a different audience
> or to the same audience on a topic not recently introduced.
>
> But if you still want a new term for neoliberalism I would suggest
> imperialism. ;->

I agree with the term imperialism, though neoliberal imperialism
differs from previous flavors of imperialism in some ways. The problem
is that for the book I'm writing, the focus is entirely on a US
audience and US issues. And I'm presenting a critique of the dominant
school of economics, not of the economy.
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.


Re: [PEN-L] query: neoliberals

2007-11-11 Thread Carrol Cox
Jim Devine wrote:
> 
> in my never-ending battle against the use of clichés, I'm looking for
> a new synonym for "neoliberal" and "neoliberalism." I think
> "marketron" is a good replacement for "neoliberalism," but
> "marketronism" is too clumsy. Any ideas?
> 
> in Solidarity with the Global War on Cliché,

I usually think of clichés as semi-dead metaphors, or at least phrases
(rather than single words) that if looked at 'feel' like a metaphor.
Neoliberalism was/is not a metaphor, and if it is objectionable I
suspect that the diagnosis is not that it's a cliche (any more than
water is a cliche for h20) but a misnomer to begin with, a misnomer,
however, grounded in the ambiguity of the stem term, "liberal."
"Liberal" has always been used in fairly contradictory senses, so
NEOliberal was bound to be vague. 

I guess I'm suggesting that the problem is not the presence of a cliché
but the _absence_ of one, i.e., of a technical term (jargon) of
sufficient precision.

But isn't that the problem with _all_ the major terms of political,
social, or economic debate and/or analysis? We just have continually to
explain _some_ of our labels each time we write to a different audience
or to the same audience on a topic not recently introduced.

But if you still want a new term for neoliberalism I would suggest
imperialism. ;->

> 
> Jim Devine


[PEN-L] query: neoliberals

2007-11-11 Thread Jim Devine
in my never-ending battle against the use of clichés, I'm looking for
a new synonym for "neoliberal" and "neoliberalism." I think
"marketron" is a good replacement for "neoliberalism," but
"marketronism" is too clumsy. Any ideas?

in Solidarity with the Global War on Cliché,

Jim Devine