The Cultural Contradictions of Neoliberalism: - The Longing for an Alternative Order and

Focusing on corporate and public power, labor and wages, and the economics of race and gender inequality, the Roosevelt Institute unifies experts, invests in young leaders, and advances progressive policies that bring the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt into the 21st century. [...] The key tenets of neoliberalism—the focus on the “rational,” self-interested individual as the fundamental unit of social analysis; the idea that free markets are a panacea; a preoccupation with personal responsibility and self-reliance; and the emphasis on an individual’s “freedom to choose”—have shaped and been supported by a range of cultural practices, beliefs, and worldviews. [...] The Left has, for the most part, focused its fire on the policy failures of neoliberalism and proposed credible alternatives in that realm, but has largely failed to engage with the deeper human needs and the cultural byproducts of the neoliberal project that the Right is increasingly tapping into. [...] Innovators’ search for community is also reflected in the rise of various forms of social recreation and the arts—from the pickleball craze (DeMelo 2022) and the rise of running clubs (Krueger 2023), to Swifties’ shared love of their favorite popstar (Dellatto 2023) and the “Queen Bey’s” BeyHive of devoted fans (Shand-Baptiste 2018). [...] Neoliberalism and Positive Psychology As the dominant cultural response to the longing tide, the WASH response has been skillfully harnessed by the neoliberal Right; in this regard, it is instructive to consider the rise of positive psychology, or the “science of happiness.” Inaugurated in 1998 by the entrepreneurial psychologist Martin Seligman, who was then the president of the American Psycholo.