Introduction

snapshots of neoliberal society and psychology

pp. 1-12

in: Carl Ratner, Neoliberal psychology, Berlin, Springer, 2019

Abstract

Neoliberalism is first and foremost a political economic system. It is an intensification and extension of capitalism. It is capitalist principles developed and purified, which dominate social (and natural) domains where they were formerly muted. These include education, health care, outer space exploration, the military (i.e., military contractors), the courts, religion, national security (70% of which is privately contracted in the USA), news, and scientific research (Rabin 2018; Hertsgaard and Dowie 2018). The specific principles of neoliberal capitalism shall be elucidated in Chap.  3. I introduce them here in the form of brief examples which give the reader a good sense of them.