The Neoliberal Baseline? A Community-Based Exploration of Beliefs about Poverty and Social Policy

Abstract

ABSTRACTDrawing on data from community-based research in the United States, this article addresses three key elements of poverty governance identified by scholars critical of neoliberal policy approaches: market-based logic, individualism, and punitive orientation. Comparing low-income residents of an economically challenged community with local middle-class professionals who work with children and families, the analysis documents that both groups endorse more egalitarian approaches, but middle-class professionals were notably more likely to combine that endorsement with a baseline of neoliberal elements. The implications of these beliefs are considered, in relation to the need for resisting the hegemony of neoliberal approaches to poverty policy.