IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/povpop/v8y2016i1p20-38.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutionalizing Neoliberalism: 21st‐Century Capitalism, Market Sprawl, and Social Policy in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Mary A. Caplan
  • Lauren Ricciardelli

Abstract

Neoliberalism is a foundational expression of 21st‐century capitalism. This article advances critiques of neoliberal influences on social welfare in the United States by detailing how core neoliberal principles such as individualism, freedom of choice, rationality, self‐interest, utilization of market mechanisms, and non‐intervention of the state have become institutionalized in contemporary social services as (i) welfare capitalism, (ii) privatization, (iii) contract service delivery, (iv) individual savings strategies, (v) voucher systems, (vi) consumer‐directed spending, and (vii) labor market activation. The authors provide an overview of capitalism and classic economic liberalism as incubators of neoliberalism and describe each mechanism and propose a framework to visualize their interrelated structure. As indicators of market sprawl, these mechanisms express and perpetuate deep market involvement in the health and human service sector. It is argued that the neoliberal institutionalization of social services is antithetical to the goals of a modern welfare system, and instead creates punitive and restrictive programs and policies. Recommended actions include critique and empirical examination of how market mechanisms influence the social services sector, specifically regarding the intermediary role of government‐funded private sector service provision.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary A. Caplan & Lauren Ricciardelli, 2016. "Institutionalizing Neoliberalism: 21st‐Century Capitalism, Market Sprawl, and Social Policy in the United States," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 20-38, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:povpop:v:8:y:2016:i:1:p:20-38
    DOI: 10.1002/pop4.128
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pop4.128
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pop4.128?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffry M. Netter & William L. Megginson, 2001. "From State to Market: A Survey of Empirical Studies on Privatization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 321-389, June.
    2. Harvey, David, 2007. "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283279.
    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. Johan Willner, 2003. "Privatisation and Public Ownership in Finland," CESifo Working Paper Series 1012, CESifo.
    2. Ashantha Ranasinghe & Xuejuan Su, 2023. "When social assistance meets market power: A mixed duopoly view of health insurance in the United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 851-869, October.
    3. Ingrid Ott & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2006. "Excludable and Non‐excludable Public Inputs: Consequences for Economic Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(292), pages 725-748, November.
    4. Lu, Yao & Zhan, Shuwei & Zhan, Minghua, 2024. "Has FinTech changed the sensitivity of corporate investment to interest rates?—Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Bozec, Richard, 2004. "L’analyse comparative de la performance entre les entreprises publiques et les entreprises privées : le problème de mesure et son impact sur les résultats," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 80(4), pages 619-654, Décembre.
    6. Carlo Cambini & Yossi Spiegel, 2016. "Investment and Capital Structure of Partially Private Regulated Firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 487-515, April.
    7. Simon Fink, 2013. "Policy Convergence with or without the European Union: The Interaction of Policy Success, EU Membership and Policy Convergence," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 631-648, July.
    8. Josse Delfgaauw & Robert Dur, 2008. "Incentives and Workers' Motivation in the Public Sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 171-191, January.
    9. Michael Böheim, 2011. "The Privatisation of Public Assets as an Economic Policy Instrument: Private versus Public Ownership of Companies – Empirical Evidence and Considerations for Industrial Location Policy," Austrian Economic Quarterly, WIFO, vol. 16(4), pages 244-255, December.
    10. Howard Stein, 2012. "The Neoliberal Policy Paradigm and the Great Recession," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 59(4), pages 421-440, September.
    11. Alberto Chilosi, 2014. "The Economic System as an End or as a Means, and the Future of Socialism: An Evolutionary Viewpoint," Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Riccardo Bellofiore & Ewa Karwowski & Jan Toporowski (ed.), Economic Crisis and Political Economy, chapter 1, pages 10-28, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Andres, Luis & Foster, Vivien & Guasch, Jose Luis, 2006. "The impact of privatization on the performance of the infrastructure sector : the case of electricity distribution in Latin American countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3936, The World Bank.
    13. Jens K. Perret, 2015. "Comments on the Impact of Knowledge on Economic Growth across the Regions of the Russian Federation," EIIW Discussion paper disbei207, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    14. Ullah, Barkat, 2021. "Does innovation explain the performance gap between privatized and private firms?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Jamie Redman, 2020. "The Benefit Sanction: A Correctional Device or a Weapon of Disgust?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(1), pages 84-100, March.
    16. Lu, Susan Feng & Dranove, David, 2013. "Profiting from gaizhi: Management buyouts during China’s privatization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 634-650.
    17. Birgitte Grøgaard & Asmund Rygh & Gabriel R. G. Benito, 2019. "Bringing corporate governance into internalization theory: State ownership and foreign entry strategies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(8), pages 1310-1337, October.
    18. Carvalho, Augusto & Guimaraes, Bernardo, 2018. "State-controlled companies and political risk: Evidence from the 2014 Brazilian election," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 66-78.
    19. Ding, Mingfa, 2014. "Political Connections and Stock Liquidity: Political Network, Hierarchy and Intervention," Knut Wicksell Working Paper Series 2014/7, Lund University, Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies.
    20. Denisova, Irina & Eller, Markus & Frye, Timothy & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2012. "Everyone hates privatization, but why? Survey evidence from 28 post-communist countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 44-61.

    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:wly:povpop:v:8:y:2016:i:1:p:20-38. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-2858 .

    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.