The Crisis of Neoliberal Globalization: Underconsumption and Risk

• In Event: 366 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 15. Theory II

Abstract

The Neoliberal regime that dominates the economy and society engenders class polarization and social and economic inequality. The post-WWII idea to create a stable economy and provide security for the working and middle classes has been replaced with a discourse that supports the free functioning of the market. Risk takers, as their actively participate in the market, are viewed as winners and their actions as desirable. Accordingly, risk has emerged as the defining dimension of Neoliberal Globalization. As class polarization continues to grow large segments of society are progressively marginalized and impoverished. The amount of risk that is shifted to this classes prevents their participation in society which is a destabilizing factor in the overall economy. Underconsumption, or the inability of the system to consume what is produced, is a direct consequence of this situation. The paper details these conditions and illustrates their unsustainable nature. In particular, it contends that the crisis is promoted by the neoliberal posture that proposes solutions that are nothing more that the application of the same market instruments that generated the crisis in the first place. The paper argues for the development of a legitimation crisis that opens the possibility of the growth of opposition to Neoliberal Globalization.

Authors

• Alessandro Bonanno, Sam Houston State University

• Robert J. Antonio, University of Kansas