Abstract The paper discusses neoliberalism’s success in the achievement of consensus despite its negative consequences in terms of growth performance, income distribution and overall precarious living conditions. It contends that there is more to the issue than ideology. Its main contention is that (neoliberal) policy feeds back on how people view the economy, society and themselves. It changes the way they self-identify and their salient identities. It ultimately affects how voters choose policy makers. Over the past decades this process reinforced social consensus for neoliberal policies even though those policies did not make people better off. Contrary to idealized views of democracy, it reflected a reduction of the capabilities that should allow people to choose how to conduct their lives. From a methodological perspective, this suggests that economic policy does not consist in the mere application of theory to reality, in that policy goals depend on an envisaged future that theory helps to understand but cannot fully systematize. From a policy perspective, it calls for a more active role of intermediate collective agents in the determination of those goals.

中文翻译：

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经济政策、社会认同和社会共识

摘要 本文讨论了新自由主义在达成共识方面的成功，尽管它在增长表现、收入分配和整体不稳定的生活条件方面产生了负面影响。它争辩说，这个问题不仅仅是意识形态。它的主要论点是（新自由主义）政策反馈人们如何看待经济、社会和他们自己。它改变了他们自我认同的方式和他们的显着身份。它最终会影响选民如何选择决策者。在过去的几十年里，这个过程加强了对新自由主义政策的社会共识，即使这些政策并没有让人们过得更好。与理想化的民主观相反，它反映了应该允许人们选择如何生活的能力的减少。从方法论的角度来看，这表明经济政策不仅仅在于将理论应用到现实中，政策目标取决于设想的未来，理论有助于理解但不能完全系统化。从政策的角度来看，它要求中间集体代理人在确定这些目标方面发挥更积极的作用。