IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/fosoec/v37y2008i2p125-134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Critique of ‘Neoliberal Autonomy’: The Rhetoric of Ownership Society

Author

Listed:
  • Rojhat Avsar

Abstract

The rhetoric of the Ownership Society defined by the Cato Institute has been integral to framing the motivation behind the Social Security reform introduced by George W. Bush. This motivational frame involves a fierce advocacy of what we will call ‘neoliberal autonomy’ in a Hayekian and Friedmanite sense. For Hayek and Friedman, the social adequacy component of Social Security is problematized in the name of self-reliance and individual choice, which rejects any authoritative standards as morally indefensible. Nevertheless, the rhetoric of the Ownership Society, though it glorifies the neoliberal notion of autonomy, does not explicitly question the moral basis of Social Security. Rather, by defining the terms of debate, it frames the meaning of Social Security along neoliberal lines in an attempt to make a supposedly detached economic case for private retirement accounts. In this ‘pro-privatization’ framework, the social adequacy component of the Social Security system fades away as individual equity, or actuarial fairness, comes to the fore as the chief theme. We suggest a ‘pro-social’ rhetoric that recognizes the pursuit of social standards as providing the element of autonomy.

Suggested Citation

  • Rojhat Avsar, 2008. "A Critique of ‘Neoliberal Autonomy’: The Rhetoric of Ownership Society," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 125-134, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:fosoec:v:37:y:2008:i:2:p:125-134
    DOI: 10.1007/s12143-008-9016-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s12143-008-9016-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12143-008-9016-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226320625 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Friedman, Milton, 2002. "Capitalism and Freedom," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226264219, Febrero.
    3. Geoffrey Hodgson, 2005. "Knowledge at work: Some neoliberal anachronisms," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(4), pages 547-565.
    4. Friedman, Milton, 2002. "Capitalism and Freedom," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226264202.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rojhat Avsar, 2008. "A Critique of ‘Neoliberal Autonomy’: The Rhetoric of Ownership Society," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 125-134, August.
    2. Adam Martin & Matias Petersen, 2019. "Poverty Alleviation as an Economic Problem," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(1), pages 205-221.
    3. Julia Rotter & Peppi-Emilia Airike & Cecilia Mark-Herbert, 2014. "Exploring Political Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 581-599, December.
    4. Potgieter, Petrus H., 2010. "Water and energy in South Africa – managing scarcity," MPRA Paper 23360, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ulrike Reisach, 2016. "The creation of meaning and critical ethical reflection in operational research," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 4(1), pages 5-32, June.
    6. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5vh7udhojr93npqcg7j64df9d4 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Klaus M. Leisinger, 2008. "Zur Relevanz der Unternehmensethik in der Betriebswirtschaftlehre (oder: The Business of Business is still Business–But the Rules have Changed)," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 60(58), pages 26-49, January.
    8. Åsbjørn Melkevik, 2016. "No progressive taxation without discrimination? On the generality of the law in the classical liberal tradition," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 418-434, December.
    9. Layman Daniel, 2012. "Locke on Basic Income," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-12, January.
    10. Jose Luis Retolaza & Leire San-Jose, 2021. "Understanding Social Accounting Based on Evidence," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    11. Chauffour, Jean-Pierre, 2011. "On the relevance of freedom and entitlement in development : new empirical evidence (1975-2007)," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5660, The World Bank.
    12. Mostafa E. Shahen & Shibly Shahrier & Koji Kotani, 2019. "Happiness, Generativity and Social Preferences in a Developing Country: A Possibility of Future Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Peter Boettke, 2019. "Economic policy of a free society," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 107-117, June.
    14. repec:kap:iaecre:v:13:y:2007:i:4:p:461-474 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Ph.D. Candidate Oana Popa, 2011. "Challenges Of The Corporate Social Responsibility," Annals of University of Craiova - Economic Sciences Series, University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 2(39), pages 173-180, May.
    16. Christof Miska & Mark E. Mendenhall, 2018. "Responsible Leadership: A Mapping of Extant Research and Future Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 117-134, March.
    17. Rajko Tomas, 2020. "The Limits of Neoliberal Globalization," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 16(4), pages 157-170.
    18. Paing, Win Min & Han, Phyu Phyu & Ota, Masahiko & Fujiwara, Takahiro, 2023. "The state-private hybrid forest policy in Myanmar: The impact of neoliberalism on the forestry sector after the 1990s," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. Cai-Xia Song & Cui-Xia Qiao, 2023. "Technology Importation, Institutional Environment and Industrial Upgrading: Evidence from China," Journal of Economics / Ekonomicky casopis, Institute of Economic Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, vol. 71(1), pages 23-45, January.
    20. John Komlos, 2022. "Running the U.S. Economy at Full Throttle Is a Stressful Variant of Capitalism," CESifo Working Paper Series 9966, CESifo.
    21. Marian Socoliuc & Cristina-Gabriela Cosmulese & Marius-Sorin Ciubotariu & Svetlana Mihaila & Iulia-Diana Arion & Veronica Grosu, 2020. "Sustainability Reporting as a Mixture of CSR and Sustainable Development. A Model for Micro-Enterprises within the Romanian Forestry Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-34, January.
    22. Thomas F. Siems, 2005. "Social Security: Tyranny of the Status Quo," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 21(Fall 2005), pages 142-156.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:fosoec:v:37:y:2008:i:2:p:125-134. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RFSE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.