Neoliberalism

The Shift from Corporatist Stability to Market Efficiency

Neoliberalism represents the economic and social framework that emerged when the artificial constructs of the mid-twentieth century were swept away by leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

This prior era, exemplified by the stability of the 1950s, was an artificial construct maintained through governmental controls, FDR antitrust laws, and mechanisms designed to protect small-scale 'mom and pop' establishments from the efficiency of larger corporate entities.

The political structure of this period relied upon a cronyist settlement between factory owners, organised labour, and the state, which intentionally kept out rapacious international capital to preserve a specific social order.

Under this regime, the economy was not driven by pure market efficiency but by deliberate interventions, such as those used by the Franklin D Roosevelt government to prevent supermarkets from securing bulk deals that would disadvantage smaller competitors.

The transition to neoliberalism dismantled these protections in favour of a free market model that prioritised efficiency and global capital flow over the preservation of local traditions and childhood nostalgia.

Industrial Displacement and the Mobility of Capital

The rise of neoliberalism coincided with a fundamental shift in the power dynamics of heavy industry, particularly within coal mining communities.

In regions such as the Cumberland Mountains of Appalachia, mining towns once operated under a semifudal structure where companies owned the mines, housing, and hospitals, creating a population totally dependent on corporate paternalism.

Despite this dependency, thousands of miners held enormous collective power, using strikes and blockades to raise medical standards and establish welfare funds comparable to the National Health Service in Great Britain.

This power dissolved as industry transitioned from human labour to mining machines. Capital is inherently itinerant, and its roving eye leads it to abandon de-industrialised areas once the economic base has been exhausted or when governmental pivots, such as shifts away from electric vehicle battery plants, render previous investments obsolete.

Consequently, former industrial strongholds have been hollowed out, leaving populations to live in growing poverty supported only by welfare.

The Psychological Landscape of Individualism and Suburbia

The reconfiguration of society into modern suburbs created a laboratory of the future, where a new sense of individualism was often accompanied by hidden fears, loneliness, and emptiness.

This environment, while offering convenience through labour-saving devices, often denuded inhabitants of purpose and disrupted natural gender roles, leading to widespread neurosis.

Arthur Sackler, a psychiatrist who innovated drug advertising, exploited these inner anxieties by promoting the sedative Valium as a safe and non-addictive treatment. Valium became the most widely prescribed medication in the Western world, used as a band-aid for the mental adjustment to modernity.

This reliance on prescription drugs, including later anti-depressants like Prozac, often neutralised emotional affect and pacivated individuals, making them unprepared for systemic economic problems.

The female happiness paradox describes the consistent decline in satisfaction levels among women observed since the 1960s, with many individuals remaining trapped in a cycle of depression and dependency.

This statistical trend suggests that despite the promises of social liberalism, Feminism, and the expansion of professional opportunities, the overall well-being of the female population has diminished over several decades.

While the transition from domestic life to the corporate workforce was presented as a pathway to liberation, many individuals found that corporate environments failed to provide the fulfilment originally envisioned.

The modern suburban structure fostered an environment of confident individualism that often masked deeper anxieties.

Underneath the surface of modern convenience, many experienced feelings of loneliness, emptiness, and fear. This new sense of freedom was inherently tied to a state of being alone, creating a profound mental strain as individuals struggled to adjust to the conditions of modernity.

The promised happiness of marriage and suburban stability frequently proved elusive, leading to a widespread sense that there was something fundamentally wrong with the prevailing social order.

The decline in female happiness is also linked to broader systemic reconfigurations and the hollowing out of traditional communities and Christian values.

As capital became more itinerant and industrial bases collapsed, the stability once provided by the state and local institutions dissolved. The removal of artificial constructs that protected local social orders forced individuals into a state of market-driven efficiency that prioritised global capital over communal well-being.

In this landscape, the loss of meaning and purpose, as well as the erosion of natural roles within the family and society left many unprepared for the psychological challenges of the late twentieth century

Systemic Collapse and the Modelling of Complex Systems

The failure of state-managed dreams is evidenced by the corruption of the Soviet system, where the power of the ruling class was used to shape a flimsy reality that disguised brutal struggles for power.

This was illustrated in 1967 by the Soyos 1 space flight, which was launched despite having hundreds of construction faults to satisfy the political demands of a revolution anniversary.

Such systems eventually implode when the gap between the promised reality and the hidden, violent truth becomes insurmountable. Parallel to these political collapses, scientists sought to understand the world through the pattern of detonations inside atomic bombs and early computer models of the climate.

John von Neumann and Edward Lorenz discovered that the climate, much like the global economy, is not a stable, self-correcting system but an unstable one where a change at the fourth decimal point can lead to entirely different and strange futures.

Neoliberalism operates much like a complex climate model; it is a system where the removal of traditional state barriers allows for a mass of different forces to move around a central globe, yet one tiny change in the data of the market can tip the entire system from a state of perceived stability into an unpredictable future.