The ‘Optimistic Cruelty’ of Hayek’s Market Order: Neoliberalism, Pain and Social Selection

IF 2.7 2区 社会学 Q1 CULTURAL STUDIES Theory Culture & Society Pub Date : 2022-10-21 DOI:10.1177/02632764221126305
Carla Ibled
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

This article argues that cruelty, as a willingness to see or orchestrate the suffering of others, is not an unfortunate side-effect of neoliberal theories put into practice but is constitutive of the neoliberal project from its theoretical inception. Drawing on Lisa Duggan’s concept of ‘optimistic cruelty’ and treating the canonical texts of neoliberal economic theory as literary artefacts, the article develops this argument through a close reading of one of the central architects of the neoliberal project, the philosopher and economist Friedrich Hayek. The first part of the article examines how Hayek attempts to justify the brutality of the market order he imagines – the catallaxy – by arguing that this brutality is the natural consequence of the spontaneous evolutionary processes that move civilisation forward. The second part brings to the fore the eugenicist undertones that suffuse this vision, despite Hayek’s apparent rejection of Social Darwinism. I analyse how Hayek’s market order operates through a series of disciplinary and biopolitical technologies that use pain, frustration, punishment and stigmatisation to eliminate bad habits, practices and subjectivities. These cruel mechanisms enable the catallaxy to sort between productive and unproductive lives to ensure that available resources are directed towards the former – even if it means that the others might be left to die. As such, cruelty is an affective atmosphere that permeates the catallaxy.
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哈耶克市场秩序的“乐观残酷”:新自由主义、痛苦与社会选择
这篇文章认为,残忍,作为一种愿意看到或策划他人痛苦的意愿,并不是新自由主义理论付诸实践的不幸副作用,而是从理论开始就是新自由主义项目的组成部分。借鉴Lisa Duggan的“乐观的残酷”概念,并将新自由主义经济理论的规范文本视为文学作品,本文通过仔细阅读新自由主义项目的核心建筑师之一,哲学家和经济学家弗里德里希·哈耶克来发展这一论点。文章的第一部分考察了哈耶克是如何试图证明他所想象的市场秩序——催化——的野蛮性的,他认为这种野蛮性是推动文明前进的自发进化过程的自然结果。尽管哈耶克明显反对社会达尔文主义,但第二部分却突出了这一观点中弥漫着的优生学色彩。我分析了哈耶克的市场秩序是如何通过一系列纪律和生物政治技术来运作的,这些技术利用痛苦、挫折、惩罚和污名化来消除不良习惯、做法和主观性。这些残酷的机制使催化剂能够在生产性和非生产性生命之间进行分类,以确保可用的资源用于前者-即使这意味着其他人可能会死去。因此,残酷是一种情感氛围,渗透到催化。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.20
自引率
5.90%
发文量
35
期刊介绍: Theory, Culture & Society is a highly ranked, high impact factor, rigorously peer reviewed journal that publishes original research and review articles in the social and cultural sciences. Launched in 1982 to cater for the resurgence of interest in culture within contemporary social science, Theory, Culture & Society provides a forum for articles which theorize the relationship between culture and society. Theory, Culture & Society is at the cutting edge of recent developments in social and cultural theory. The journal has helped to break down some of the disciplinary barriers between the humanities and the social sciences by opening up a wide range of new questions in cultural theory.
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