What are we talking about when we talk about ‘Neoliberalism’?

ABSTRACT

Based on a review of the critical literature, the article provides readers with an overview of neoliberalism’s main dimensions. In this sense, it furnishes an accessible conceptual foundation for a number of the articles in the themed issue. It is suggested that those seeking to comprehend neoliberalism should take into account six intermeshed facets: the overturning of ‘embedded liberalism’; the re-configuration of the state in order to better serve the interests of capital; new patterns of income and wealth distribution to benefit the rich and super-rich; insecurity and precariousness; the rise in mass incarceration; a strategic pragmatism. The article briefly dwells on the capitalist crisis which began in 2007 and goes on to suggest that we may be witnessing the emergence of what is termed ‘rhetorically recalibrated neoliberalism’ (RRN).

KEYWORDS:

• Capitalism
• poverty
• the state
• precariousness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Paul Michael Garrett works at NUI Galway in the Republic of Ireland. In 2018 he was Visiting Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) and he has presented keynote papers at international conferences across Europe and in China. Contemporary neoliberalism and historical practices of marginalisation and domination are some of his main scholarly concerns. For many years, he has been a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Social Work. He is also the Editor of Reviews for Critical Social Policy. He is the author of over a hundred of internationally peer-reviewed articles and several books including, his most recent, Welfare Words: Critical Social Work & Social Policy (2018).