It is an interesting book and documents what she refers to as:<\/p>\n
\n… neoliberalism\u2019s \u201ceconomization\u201d of political life and of other heretofore noneconomic spheres and activities.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The idea that human activity and interactions has been ‘economised’, meaning that we now evaluate our existence and interactions in the language and metrics of ‘markets’ and think that the narrow concept that economists promote of efficiency (which really is just about furthering private profit) and productivity are more valuable goals than ethical conduct and moral worth, is not one developed by Wendy Brown although her work is an eloquent articulation of the meaning and implications of that trend.<\/p>\n
I have written before about the work, for example, of – Harry Braverman<\/a> – see How to break out of the commodification of everything<\/a> (July 14, 2025).<\/p>\n
That blog post contains a further reading list on the work I have done in the past on his ideas.<\/p>\n
In his 1974 book – Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century<\/a> – which was published by Monthly Review Press, Harry Braverman
\nBraverman advanced his “de-skilling” thesis where capital systematically restructured labour processes to enhance their control in order to extract higher profits.<\/p>\nHe also proposed that commodification was becoming generalised under Capitalism – extending into more and more areas of our ‘social’ lives.<\/p>\n
Progressively, these ‘labour processes’ (market-values) subsume our whole lives – sport, leisure, learning, family – the lot.<\/p>\n
Everything becomes a capitalist surplus-creating process.<\/p>\n
This process has intensified under neoliberalism – it seeks to commodify everything.<\/p>\n
That is create labour processes that produce commodities for profit.<\/p>\n
The spread of the labour process is one of the characteristic features of the last several decades.<\/p>\n
Even those activities that have previously been part of our non-working lives – our lives away from the oppression of work – are targets for commodification.<\/p>\n
The economisation of human life is about that spread.<\/p>\n
The mass consumption that emerged in the 1950s as Western countries became richer after WW2, was magnified under neoliberalism and everything became a ‘product’ to be consumed.<\/p>\n
The rise of the (now very destructive) social media in our lives is part of that and represents, in my view, one of the major dangers to social stability as, in the words of Hugh Rimmington (see – My view from the news chair: the worst of the mob is coming for us<\/a> (October 17, 2026):<\/p>\n
\nWe, the people\u201d increasingly deal with each other not through parliaments or church halls but through a digital space whose profits depend on us fighting each other.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At the same time, to ensure collective will was broken, neoliberalism promoted a ‘divide-and-conquer’ strategy which framed those who were less fortunate (in material terms) than others as failures who didn’t aspire or didn’t work hard enough etc.<\/p>\n
We had previously seen those who were left behind as being the products (victims) of structural failures but neoliberalism reframed the phenomena as individual failure.<\/p>\n
By construction, those who pursued a dog-eat-dog approach to life were held out as the epitome of success.<\/p>\n
Gordon Gekko types!<\/p>\n
So when governments were pressured into abandoning the full employment commitment that had delivered prosperity to most people and reduced income inequality etc, the resulting mass unemployment was constructed as an individual failure – lazy people who wanted to bludge of the welfare system – rather than a failure of the system to provide enough jobs for all.<\/p>\n
Neoliberalism also fostered what we called in our 2917 book – Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World<\/a> (Pluto Books, September 2017) – the ‘depoliticisation’ of public decision-making responsibilities.<\/p>\n
The discretion of our elected representatives was subjugated by the promotion of technocratic elites who pushed the market logic.<\/p>\n
The ‘independence’ of central banks is part of that ruse and we are now finding countries in ridiculous situations.<\/p>\n
In Australia, the overwhelming factor driving the inflationary pressures at present are energy prices arising from Trump’s follow in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The higher energy prices are feeding into other prices, such as food through other input costs (fertiliser, transport, processing etc).<\/p>\n
And climate change is becoming increasingly damaging to agriculture.<\/p>\n
But the neoliberal ideology, which includes the promotion of monetary policy (interest rate adjustments) over fiscal policy, and the idea that if inflation rises, interest rates have to rise, irrespective of the reasons for the rise in inflation, is locking the depoliticised policy machinery into an absurd situation.<\/p>\n
It is becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that the RBA cannot impact on the drivers of the current inflationary pressures through interest rate increases.<\/p>\n
Yet, here we are, the RBA officials are berating us and hiking rates and suggesting more hikes are coming.<\/p>\n
For what?<\/p>\n
It is beyond absurd.<\/p>\n
It is no wonder that the political machinery is falling apart in many countries and ridiculous Far Right parties are getting platforms and support.<\/p>\n
The political class opted to shift their responsibilities to the technocrats, who deliver destructive policy choices, which largely serve the interests of capital and the wealthy elites, and then expect us to vote for them.<\/p>\n
Japan and neoliberalism<\/h2>\n
The experience in Japan is somewhat different.<\/p>\n
Fast track to 2001.<\/p>\n
<\/a> – was a Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister Junichir\u014d Koizumi government from 2001 to 2006.<\/p>\n
He held the position of Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Minister for Financial Services, Minister of State for Privatization of Postal Services, and Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.<\/p>\n
Just the ministry names gives you a hint of what was happening at the time in Japan.<\/p>\n
He introduced the so-called ‘Koizumi-Takenaka Reforms’ which comprised a fairly comprehensive set of policy shifts that ran counter to conventional government behaviour in Japan.<\/p>\n
One of the targets was the zombie banks that were carrying massive portfolios of non-performing loans, principally a legacy of the asset bubble crash a decade earlier.<\/p>\n
The policy shift known as the ‘Financial Revival Program’ was introduced in October 2002 and reduced them from around 8.4 per cent of total bank loans to 1.5 per cent by the end of that regime.<\/p>\n
Prior to the Program, banks could hide their NPLs through slack auditing.<\/p>\n
The Program forced the banks to acknowledge the losses and recapitalise though an equity injection.<\/p>\n
The Program threatened to nationalise any bank which allowed its capital ratio to fall below the regulatory threshold (one bank was so nationalised in 2003).<\/p>\n
The NPLs could be sold to government-guaranteed Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC), which eliminated them from the balance sheet.<\/p>\n
This part of the policy shift effectively socialised the private losses and gave the banks clear space to return to profitability.<\/p>\n
The state backstopping was certainly contested by progressives but without it and\/or widespread nationalisation, the financial sector could not function.<\/p>\n
More worrying was the labour market deregulation, which effectively destroyed job tenure that had underpinning Japan’s ‘lifetime employment’ framework.<\/p>\n
The – 2003 Worker Dispatch Law Amendment<\/a> – <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billmitchell.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Japan_Non-regular_to_Total_1980_2026.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n