Psychology and Neoliberalism

Psychology and Neoliberalism applies multidisciplinary perspectives to explore psychology's role as a bulwark of liberalism and the neoliberal capitalist order. It argues that the emergence of the cognitive revolution and the recent interest in social class and globalization have made psychological theory and practice instrumental in the expansion of neoliberalism.

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During the Enlightenment a new idea of the person was conceived which in turn came to have far-reaching effects on the development of liberal democratic theory and political economy. By looking at the psychological theories that were developed to support our modern political and economic institutions, Mike Arfken demonstrates that psychology has not only played a vital role in the development of liberalism but also in the more recent expansion of neoliberal capitalism. In this way, modern psychology is revealed as the expression of an underlying political economy.

The book's primary focus is on the historical, philosophical, and theoretical dimensions of psychology and neoliberalism, but it also considers a number of prominent concrete examples. The author gives particular attention to how the emergence of the cognitive revolution and the recent interest in social class and globalization have made psychological theory and practice instrumental in the reproduction and expansion of neoliberalism.

Psychology and Neoliberalism provides fresh and stimulating insights at the intersection of psychology with economics, political theory, philosophy and social theory and will be of great interest to students and scholars in these and related disciplines.