Neoliberalism in question

The question is: what is this neoliberalism? This book abounds with definitions - a motivating spirit, a theoretical approach, an internationalized policy framework, a mobile policy knowledge, a complex of regimes, a set of practices, a cultural orientation infiltrating contemporary life, and so o n. This chapter, which takes its title from Andrew Sayer's (1989) critique Post-Fordism in Question, challenges the usefulness of calling so many different ideas and practices neoliberalism. Our objective is to question the usefulness of the concept as a framework for explaining contemporary capitalism and the politics surrounding it, and to ask whether neoliberalism's power to shape contemporary societies is overstated.