Latin America and the Collapsing Ideological Supports of Neoliberalism

Abstract

A selective examination of empirical cases is used to explore the incipient conditions of ideological breakdown in Latin American neoliberalism. The context of neoliberal consolidation is reviewed and the ideological supports for neoliberalism through the educational system and mass media are treated in a political context. Discussion then turns to the role of ideology in popular challenges to neoliberal domination where the need for further theorizing is identified. A preliminary conceptualization of the ideological decline of neoliberalism is proposed in order to begin charting a path towards a post-neoliberal alternative in Latin America, one that can genuinely address the region’s development needs.