Rather than posing a globalist neoliberalism against a neonationalist and social conservative populism, we must remain mindful of the elasticity of neoliberal norms and principles. Principles of competition, private property, and consumer sovereignty can be tied to human rights, multicultural tolerance, and recognition of minorities as well as exclusionary bonds based in culture and race. Neither left nor right had much affinity to neoliberal-style individualism historically. But the advance of neoliberal worldviews expanded certain ideas at the expense of competing notions of individualism and solidarity. Social democracy has become less concerned with redistribution under the impact of advancing neoliberal understandings of social life, while conservatism has become less concerned with tradition under the impact of advancing neoliberal understandings of competitiveness.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 31