The New Way of the World

A far-reaching deconstruction of neoliberalism’s economic agenda, political imposition and mystifying techniques

Exploring the genesis of neoliberalism, and the political and economic circumstances of its deployment, Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval dispel numerous common misconceptions. Neoliberalism is neither a return to classical liberalism nor the restoration of “pure” capitalism. To misinterpret neoliberalism is to fail to understand what is new about it: far from viewing the market as a natural given that limits state action, neoliberalism seeks to construct the market and use it as a model for governments. Only once this is grasped will its opponents be able to meet the unprecedented political and intellectual challenge it poses.“Erudite and provocative.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books

“The New Way of the World is the best modern realization of Foucault’s pioneering approach to the history of neoliberalism. It wonderfully explores the European roots and branches of the neoliberal thought collective over the twentieth century, and warns that unthinking misrepresentations of its political project as espousing ‘laissez-faire’ has had the effect of allowing the Left to submit to its siren song.”
—Philip Mirowski, author of Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste

“Extremely scholarly, this book is an insistent invitation to push theoretical and social critique of the present order beyond the standard analyses.”
—Le Monde diplomatique

“To understand these debates [on neoliberalism], the book by Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot on the ‘neoliberal society’ offers us analytical keys. This monument of scholarship draws on the history of ideas, philosophy and sociology.”
—Le Monde

“A compelling analysis of neoliberal governmentally in the era of capitalist financialization.”
—Theory, Culture & SocietyPierre Dardot is a philosopher and noted scholar of Hegel and Marx. Dardot is the coauthor of The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society (with Christian Laval), which the Los Angeles Review of Books called “erudite and provocative.” His previous books include Sauver Marx? Empire, multitude, travail immatériel (with Christian Laval and El Mouhoub Mouhoud) and Marx, prénom: Karl (with Christian Laval).

Christian Laval is professor of sociology at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. Along with Pierre Dardot, Laval cowrote The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society, which the Los Angeles Review of Books called “erudite and provocative.” His other books include L'Ambition sociologique, Jeremy Bentham: Le pouvoir des fictions, and L'école n'est pas une entreprise: Le néo-libéralisme à l'assaut de l'enseignement public.

Gregory Elliott is a member of the editorial collective of Radical Philosophy and author of Althusser: The Detour of Theory and Labourism and the English Genius: The Strange Decay of Labour England? Elliott has also translated numerous books including The New Spirit of Capitalism, Non-Violence: A History Beyond the Myth, and The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society.