This article explores the relationship between neoconservative values and
neoliberalism in American jurisprudence through a critique of the US Supreme
Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. The article uncovers how the Court imposes marketoriented
logic on religious expression and in the process spiritualizes economic
activity. In this way neoliberal rationality is intertwined with neoconservative
values. For example, exercising religion through corporatization can be understood
as a neoconservative moderation of the corrupting influence of excessive neoliberal
individualism. Finally, while the decision furthers employer control of workers’
reproduction, the Court’s proposed workaround—a direct government contraceptives
program—would undermine that control and points to another, more emancipatory
response to the problems of neoliberalism.

EB00000004332K

Available

• The Problem with Hobby Lobby: Neoliberal Jurisprudence and Neoconservative Values