Hayek: A Collaborative Biography

<div><div><div>This latest volume in the Collaborative Biography of Hayek examines the interconnectedness&nbsp;between Hayek’s (1944) <i>The Road to Serfdom</i> and George Orwell’s <i>Animal Farm</i> (1945) and&nbsp;<i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> (1949); his relationship with Karl Popper and Karl Polanyi; and the work&nbsp;of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Mises had a ‘deep emotional attachment’ to the ‘free’ market and&nbsp;Hayek believed that ‘science’ was driven by shallow emotions.</div><div><br></div><div>Hayek believed in ‘democracy as a system of peaceful change of government; but that’s all&nbsp;its whole advantage is, no other.’ He felt democracy simply made it possible to get rid of the&nbsp;government ‘we’ dislike. Hayek bemoaned the decay of superstition — the ‘supporting moral&nbsp;beliefs’ – that are required to maintain ‘our’ civilization. Yet his Road to Serfdom neglected&nbsp;‘another road to serfdom’ – the possibility that there were multiple threats to individual&nbsp;freedom – not just State power. In contrast, many other scholars and public intellectual warned&nbsp;of the dangers of the concentration of power in institutions other than the State. Today those&nbsp;fears have materialized in the guise of wealthy mega-corporations and billionaires whose&nbsp;influence on government, on elections, on popular culture and on the dominant ideology, have&nbsp;been able to change the rules of the market in their favour – so that ‘we’ have now become&nbsp;trapped in a new kind of serfdom. With contributions from a range of highly regarded scholars,&nbsp;this volume continues the Biography’s rich exploration of Hayek’s work and beliefs.</div></div></div>