Both the thrust and the passion of this critique of what the ordoliberals perceived to be the disintegration of the modern capitalist society had a greater affinity with conservative than with classic liberal positions. Röpke (1948b, 226) himself acknowledged the relationship of his thought to “religious-conservative streams.” But even if it seems absurd that the prophets of market economic forces of innovation would castigate the results of the economic dynamism, the antimodernism evident in their social and cultural critique provided the basis for one of the pillars of the ordoliberal program: stability and security for the working class was prerequisite to securing the market economy. This program fundamentally differed from left-wing calls for egalitarian redistribution.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 509