University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations 5-1-2013 "To Avoid the Unimaginable": Neoliberalism and the Struggle for American Democracy Since the 1960s Dawson Barrett University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Barrett, Dawson, ""To Avoid the Unimaginable": Neoliberalism and the Struggle for American Democracy Since the 1960s" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 74. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/74 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “TO AVOID THE UNIMAGINABLE”: NEOLIBERALISM AND THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY SINCE THE 1960s by Dawson Barrett A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2013 ABSTRACT “TO AVOID THE UNIMAGINABLE”: NEOLIBERALISM AND THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY SINCE THE 1960s by Dawson Barrett The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013 Under the Supervision of Professor Joe Austin This study explores the structural, tactical, and strategic legacies of 1960s era activism on subsequent American social movements. Specifically, this project explains how the ascendancy of neoliberal policies on both national and global scales has dramatically shifted opportunities for social change. Case studies for these developments include Earth First! and the punk rock movement during the 1980s, the Student-Farmworker Alliance in the 1990s, and a variety of anti-war organizations in the 2000s.