Atlas / Comparisons / US Democratic Socialism vs Neoliberalism
US Democratic Socialism and Neoliberalism
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on AU, SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU.
Axis by axis
| Axis | DSA, Sanders wing | Mont Pèlerin, Chicago | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −06 | +09 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −08 | +01 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −04 | −02 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +03 | +02 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −08 | −02 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −04 | −02 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
DSA, Sanders wing · EC −06
Coded −6: universal public provision funded by taxation, with no proposal to abolish private ownership of production.
- Programme textSingle-payer health insurance and tuition-free public college are the central commitments.
- Comparative datasetThe programme is close to Nordic social democracy of the 1970s and roughly fourteen units from classical Marxism.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · EC +09
Far market pole on doctrine, with the important caveat that most named exponents rejected pure laissez-faire.
- Programme textThe 1947 Mont Pèlerin statement of aims defends the market order and also the rule of law and a competitive framework.
DSA, Sanders wing · CU −08
Coded −8: the movement's cultural positions are as central to it as its economics.
- Programme textProgramme commitments on reproductive rights, trans health care, decarceration and immigration are foundational.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · CU +01
Coded near neutral: the tradition is deliberately agnostic on social questions and its exponents divided sharply.
- ScholarshipHayek and Friedman opposed conscription and drug prohibition; other Mont Pèlerin members were social conservatives.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
US Democratic Socialism
1982– · United States
Universal public provision funded by taxing concentrated wealth, achieved entirely through elections and unions.
Neoliberalism
1947– · International
Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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