Neoliberalism and Race

In this timely work, Lars Cornelissen argues that the category of race constitutes an organizing principle of neoliberal ideology. Using the method of intellectual history and drawing on insights from critical race studies, Cornelissen explores the various racial constructs that structure neoliberal ideology, some of which are explicit, while others are more coded. Beginning in the interwar period and running through to recent developments, Neoliberalism and Race shows that racial themes have always pervaded neoliberal thinking. The book''s key argument is that neoliberal thought is constitutively racialized—its racial motifs cannot be extracted from neoliberalism without rendering it theoretically and politically incoherent. The book aptly explores a wide variety of racial constructs through the structure of neoliberal ideology, deconstructing the conceptualizations of landmark thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Peter Bauer, Ludwig von Mises, Thomas Sowell, Charles Murray, and others from the early twentieth century to the present. In this novel—perhaps controversial—critique, Cornelissen asserts that neoliberal thinkers were not just the passive recipients of racial discourse but directly impacted it.