The Shock Doctrine is a sustained critique of neoliberal ideology and the myths its proponents propagate about the benefits of the ideology. This guide will use the term neoliberalism, although, as author Naomi Klein points out, this ideology is referred to by a variety of terms, including neoconservatism, market fundamentalism, Chicago School economics, and corporatism. Liberalism here does not refer to left-wing or center-left political beliefs. Economic liberalism is the belief that markets should be structured so that the exchange of goods and services faces few or no barriers like taxes, tariffs, quotas, centralized management, currency controls, and so on. Classical liberal economic policy holds that the government should intervene when necessary to stabilize the market. 

Neoliberals, by contrast, believe that the government should be as small as possible. They argue the government should be mostly limited to creating markets, ensuring contracts, and providing security services. Neoliberals advocate for nationalized, or publicly owned, assets or services to be privatized, or sold off or managed by private corporations. The key theorist of neoliberal policy is Milton Friedman, whose work and policy proposals are cited throughout The Shock Doctrine (for more on neoliberal economic policy, see

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now