Neoliberalism: A Critical Reader

Author: (British) Saad-Filho
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-11-01
Features: Neoliberalism has dominated the intellectual landscape since the 1970s, not only entering academia as a dominant doctrine but also holding overwhelming sway in politics and economics. It has not only reigned supreme in Europe and America but also ruled over Latin America, Africa, Asia, and even China, where its influence has grown steadily. By the 1980s, with the disintegration of the Soviet bloc, neoliberalism was even more confident, facing few rivals in the world. Thatcher thus proposed the exclusive slogan of "There Is No Alternative." Are humans in the 21st century truly left with no other choice? The slogan "There Is No Alternative" is overly authoritarian, not only being theoretically inconsistent, such as ignoring equality and applying double standards to limit democracy and human rights, but also revealing many problems in practice. Human choices are inherently diverse, and there should be multiple options for choosing lifestyles and paths to modernization. This not only aligns with the values of freedom and human rights but is also more likely to be practical and a blessing for the development of world culture.
About the Author: Alfredo Saad-Filho is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Economy of Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has written The Value of Marx: Political Economy for Contemporary Capitalism (2002) and Marx's Capital (2004, co-authored with Daniel Feenstra), and edited Anti-Capitalism: A Marxist Introduction (2003).