Ben Jackson

It can be tempting to draw a straight line from neoliberal theories to Thatcherite politics to everyday life and conclude that in the 1980s a novel set of ideas swept through state policymaking, transforming popular opinion. But the trajectory of neoliberalism was far less tidy. Amy Edwards’s point is that the neoliberalism that took hold in the 1980s was consumerist, dominated by the interests of large companies. This was at odds with the aims of those neoliberals who had wanted to create a nation of entrepreneurial small businesspeople and investors.