The Paradox of (Neo)liberal Society

Collective Consent for an Anti-Democratic Project

Abstract

Neoliberalism alone cannot account for the modern crisis of liberalism - expressed through the rise of populist governments, fundamentalist outfits, and worldwide popular protests. This paper posits, in line with Karl Polanyi’s opus, The Great Transformation (1944), that neoliberalism has distilled, rather than produced, these tensions, which are inherent in the liberal social imaginary. The paper will close with projections of an alternative modernity.