Individualism Without Individuality: Friedrich Hayek and the Neoliberal Citizen

Abstract

Critics of neoliberalism increasingly examine its corrosive effects on democracy. Scholars often turn to Friedrich Hayek's political theory, arguing that it produces citizens who passively conform to spontaneous social orders. Yet insufficient attention has been paid to the normative conception of the human individual underlying his neoliberalism. This article demonstrates that Hayek's theory actively rejects individuality, understood as the cultivation and expression of one's distinct personal character. Individuality requires an experimental approach toward social action and critical reflection on whether social rules express one's character, yet such attitudes are systematically stifled in Hayek's account because they threaten the unequivocal obedience his spontaneous orders demand. My reading suggests that by suppressing individuality in favor of unreflective conformity, Hayek's neoliberalism produces citizens who are particularly ill‐equipped to identify and resist threats to their freedom and sustain liberal democracy.