Thursday, November 21, 2019

Whyte: The Morals of the Market: Human Rights and the Rise of Neoliberalism

Jessica Whyte (Univ. of New South Wales - Philosophy) has published The Morals of the Market: Human Rights and the Rise of Neoliberalism (Verso 2019). Here's the abstract:
Drawing on detailed archival research on the parallel histories of human rights and neoliberalism, Jessica Whyte uncovers the place of human rights in neoliberal attempts to develop a moral framework for a market society. In the wake of the Second World War, neoliberals saw demands for new rights to social welfare and self-determination as threats to “civilisation”. Yet, rather than rejecting rights, they developed a distinctive account of human rights as tools to depoliticise civil society, protect private investments and shape liberal subjects.