What is being Neoliberal all about? Not being Liberal. (Part One)

Some may find this post boring, but it is essential to understanding how homelessness has become increasingly stigmatized over the years. Now, if you remember from my last entry I left you off with some statistics that I hope had some resonance. The reason I picked those in particular were because they signified drastic cut-offs in social spending from all levels of government. If you’ll notice, a lot of those changes happened around 25-30 years ago. This isn’t a coincidence; in the early to mid 80’s, there was an economic paradigm shift that left millions in the dust (Young and Moses, 2013). That shift: Neoliberalism.

Doesn’t it sound pretty? The way it flows off the tongue – I just want to say it over and over again. Using it in conversations makes you sound (super pretentious) like an academic genius.

 Think about it for a sec: Neoliberalism. Neo = new. Liberalism = equality, human rights, tolerance, etc.

Nope.

As explained by Johanna Bockman (2013), Neoliberalism is essentially an economic philosophy that says that government should have no influence on the market (such as regulating prices of goods) and social spending. This has huge implications, especially on people with lower incomes who rely on social welfare as a means to not struggle through this life.

Who wants this? Rich people. How do they sell it to the public? Lower taxes.

How exactly does it work? In the second half of this post, I’ll explain.

References

Bockman, Johanna. "Neoliberalism." Contexts 12.3 (2013): 14-5. Web.

Young, Michael G., and Joshua M. Moses. "Neoliberalism and Homelessness in the Western Canadian Arctic." Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research 4.2 (2013): 7. Web.