Neoliberalism
1.
Dating back to the 1930s, neoliberalism is an economic ideology that allows capitalism to thrive. Neoliberals believe in reducing the state influence on the economy by any means necessary, regardless of the societal consequences such as poverty, unemployment or inaccessibility to education or healthcare.
Defined by Riann Philip
2.
Neoliberalism is a complicated concept which can be understood in a number of ways. However, roughly, we can think of neoliberalism as an economic, political, and ethical ideology (a system of ideas and ideals surrounding how best to live and/or govern). Neoliberalist ideology values competition and the individual over the community. Practically, this means prioritising the ‘free market’. Roughly, this means that the market is minimally regulated (or not regulated at all), and that traditionally state-owned enterprises are privatised (so owned and run by private individuals as opposed to governments). Further, the neoliberalist ideology holds that minimal government intervention in both economic and social affairs is both ethically and practically best.
References:
Ganti, T. (2014). Neoliberalism. Annual Review of Anthropology, 43, 89–104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43049564
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot