Quinn Slobodian Bastardizes Hayek and Mises
Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right, by Quinn Slobodian, Zone Books, 272 pages, $29.95
Quinn Slobodian, a historian at Boston University, has convinced himself that Trumpism traces its intellectual origins to the Austrian economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. He first postulated his Austrianism-to-Trumpism thesis in a pair of academic articles in 2019, which claimed that Hayek's work contained a subtle streak of biological determinism that made them attractive to various eugenicists and IQ-obsessed cranks on the far right. He made even more direct claims about Mises, who allegedly left a "parenthetical opening to the possibility of race theory" that modern race theorists then "drove the proverbial truck through" until arriving at their present Trumpian destination.
Hayek's Bastards is a book-length expansion of these arguments, characterizing today's populist right as the product of a "new fusionism" between the "three hards": genetically hardwired human nature (often predicated in racial determinism), the hard borders of immigration restrictionism, and hard money. While each of these elements certainly hovers around the far right today, Slobodian's attempts to situate the first two in the works of Hayek and Mises suffers from a lack of clear evidence for the parentage.
Undeterred, Slobodian supplies the links by making them up.
When the 2019 articles first appeared, several readers—myself included—noticed that Slobodian made a habit of selectively editing quotations from Mises's works to create the impression of that "parenthetical opening" to racial bigotry, when in fact Mises was arguing the opposite. This pattern continues in his new book.
In a characteristic example, Slobodian charges Mises with "repeatedly express[ing] cautious optimism for a potential science of race" even though the economist actually condemned the eugenic theories of the time. To support this claim, he quotes a passage from Mises' 1944 book Omnipotent Government, implying that it encompasses the economist's own views: "There are few white men who would not shudder at the picture of many millions of black or yellow people living in their own countries." Slobodian omits Mises's next sentence, which would make it clear that he was describing the racial prejudices of others: Mises lamented that the "elaboration of a system making for harmonious coexistence and peaceful economic and political coöperation among the various races is a task to be accomplished by coming generations."
Slobodian accuses Mises of "grant[ing] even more ground to race science" in his 1940 book Nationalökonomie. He then presents a string of quotations that leave the reader with the impression that Mises hoped to rehabilitate the study of racial heredity after its discrediting at the hands of the Nazi regime. The original text reveals a different picture.
In the omitted portions of the passage, Mises condemns those failed attempts to link human capacity for understanding (or Verstehen in German) with ethnic and racial heredity. In place of Mises's actual context, Slobodian splices in a separate and later quote about Nazi race theory, thereby altering the passage's meaning to better fit his own thesis:
Slobodian, Hayek's Bastards
Mises, Nationalökonomie
[Mises] wrote that "we may take as given that the racial element plays a role among the factors that form the personality and, with it, our values and understanding." What he objected to was not the possible truth content of race theory but its misuse. "In the doctrine of National Socialism and its derivative teachings in Italian fascism," he wrote, "there is an unbridgeable gap between the statements of the founders of racial biology and their application to propaganda and use for practical policies." The fascist politicization of race theory should not discredit it permanently. "Because the keywords of race theory are used to justify measures with which it has nothing to do," he wrote, "does not free scientific thought from the responsibility to think through to the end the problem of human races (Menschenrassen) in its praxeological significance."
"We may take as given that the racial element plays a role among the factors that form the personality and, with it, our values and understanding, i.e., everything with which a man is born, his physical endowment, the hereditary qualities derived from his ancestors. But in the present state of our knowledge, we know nothing about the connection between the physical and the mind, and therefore cannot make any statement as to whether and in what way the physical is capable of influencing Verstehen. Some have attempted to assign certain value judgments (types of Verstehen, Verstehen types) to specific peoples; these attempts failed because it is easy to prove that every attempt to group people according to types of Verstehen thwarts the classification according to ethnicity."
Slobodian attempts to construct a parallel link between Hayek and heredity pseudoscience through what Slobodian calls the "savanna story": a metaphor for humanity's transition from a collective society of tribal solidarity to an individualistic and competitive order after the introduction of trade and commerce. In Slobodian's depiction, "the message of the savanna stories that neoliberals told was that the tribe will never go away," allegedly imprinting the stamp of racial heredity upon human nature. Yet this "savanna story" does not actually appear in any of the passages from Hayek that Slobodian references. Instead, the author coins the metaphor himself after reading an unrelated speech by the political scientist Charles Murray that never references Hayek.
There's a distinctive decoder-ring style to Slobodian's historical methodology. He offers little direct evidence that modern race theorists cite, or are even aware of, the alleged "parenthetical openings" to race theory in Mises or the imagined "savanna story" in Hayek. Slobodian has extracted these links through textual divinations that only appear in works by Quinn Slobodian.
Elsewhere, Slobodian's historical interpretations are simply mistaken assessments of the evidence. The key to his case is Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" who became a late-life acquaintance of Mises' American student Murray Rothbard. Hoppe's career crescendoed while Rothbard was pursuing a misguided political alliance with Pat Buchanan's right-wing populist movement, and Hoppe continues to have adherents on the far right today. Yet few academic economists take him seriously, and he may be better known among Austrians for having gotten himself disinvited from the Mont Pelerin Society (another recurring fixation of Slobodian's ire) in the late 1990s.
Slobodian is correct to place Hoppe in the "new fusionist" camp today. Hoppe's works contain overt appeals to eugenicists such as J. Philippe Rushton and even to Jean Raspail's The Camp of the Saints, a racist dystopian novel in which the West is overrun with ships full of dark-skinned migrants. In one 1996 essay, which Slobodian does not cite, Hoppe espoused the right of towns to post signs excluding "Moslems, Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Chinese, Mexicans, etc….and to kick out those who do not fulfill these requirements as trespassers." And yet in his singular quest to link these noxious beliefs to Austrian economics, Slobodian misses Hoppe's explicit divergence from Mises on these same questions.
In his book Democracy: The God That Failed, Hoppe disavowed Mises' "classical" endorsement of unrestricted immigration, labeling it a "highly unrealistic—long bygone—situation in human history." Apparently unaware of this rift, Slobodian interprets Hoppe as a purist Misesian pushing back against the "hermeneutic" Austrians of the late 1980s: a group centered around the economist Don Lavoie, who synthesized the Austrian theory of subjective value with elements of continental philosophy. Hoppe is better understood as a competitor claimant to the same continental tradition: He was trained in Frankfurt School Critical Theory under Jürgen Habermas, and he attempted his own synthesis of its methods into Austrian economics. Indeed, Hoppe's two main scholarly works at the time directly evinced his pursuit of an Austro–critical theory synthesis: an attempt to "correct" and splice Karl Marx's historical materialism with Austrian subjective value theory, and an application of Habermas' "discourse ethics" framework to the institution of property rights, rebranded as "argumentation ethics."
Hoppe's descent into racial heredity theory comes not from Mises or Hayek but from a blend between his Frankfurt School philosophical training and the extreme immigration-restrictionist worldview of the journalist Peter Brimelow. In his quest to coax an exclusively Austrian genealogy for the modern far right, Slobodian has conflated the parents with other distinct camps on the racialist far right and missed an entire branch of the family tree that intersects with the academic left.
And therein lies the major interpretive problem with this book: Its author is blind to any evidence that confounds his story. The resulting narrative arrives with a spectacular crash in the concluding chapter. Here, Slobodian tries to link Trump, the "national conservative" movement, alt-right figures such as Paul Gottfried and Curtis Yarvin, the tech-libertarian blogosphere, the COVID-era Great Barrington Declaration (GBD), the public backlash against left-wing Modern Monetary Theory arguments during the 2022 inflationary crisis, and above all Argentina's libertarian-leaning president Javier Milei. In his own words, "our genealogies of [neoliberal] ideas are X-rays that leave little doubt" to its malicious intentions.
This attempted grouping is fraught with internal contradictions. It completely overlooks the war that erupted between pro-lockdown tech-libertarians and the anti-lockdown GBD. It shows no awareness that Yarvin explicitly rejects Mises and Hayek in favor of the anti-capitalist ramblings of the 19th century philosopher Thomas Carlyle. It ignores Milei's recent denunciation of Hoppe as an "economic idiot" and Hoppe's bromides against the Argentinian president. It is oblivious to the gaping chasm between the laissez faire Austrian school and the Trump administration's economic agenda of tariffs, industrial policy, and immigration restrictions. And it haplessly lumps national conservatism under the "neoliberal" label even as leading NatCon spokespersons blame neoliberalism for their economic grievances. Many on the "postliberal" far right today have more in common with Slobodian's own economic ideology than that of Mises or Hayek.
A more careful assessment of these subjects may yet decipher the political emergence of Trumpism and unsavory adjacent movements. But that will require more fidelity to the evidence—and a willingness to look beyond the author's decoder ring.
The post Quinn Slobodian Bastardizes Hayek and Mises appeared first on Reason.com.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
School shooting leaves Austria's second city in shock and grief
There is shock, sadness and disbelief in Graz, after the worst shooting in modern Austrian history left 11 people dead, including the gunman. "We never could have imagined that this could have happened here, in our place. It's a sad day for the whole city," said Reka, who lives close to the school. For many years, Austria had been spared the pain of mass school shootings. But that all changed at about 10:00 on Tuesday when a former student ran amok at a secondary school in the Dreierschützengasse, close to the main station in Austria's second largest city. Morning classes were under way when the attack took place. Some students at the school would have been taking their final exams. It took police 17 minutes to bring the situation under control. By the time it was over six female victims and three males had died. Hours later, a seventh female victim, an adult woman, died in hospital. Several others remain in hospital, some with critical injuries. The gunman, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen with two firearms, took his own life at the school. A former pupil who never passed his final exams, he is reported to have seen himself as a victim of bullying. Local resident Reka told me she couldn't understand how an attack like this could have happened in her well-ordered city. "This area is quiet, safe and beautiful," she said. "People are nice, the school is good." Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen said: "This horror cannot be put into words. What happened today in a school in Graz, hits our country right in the heart. These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way." He said there was "nothing at this moment that can alleviate the pain that the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of those murdered are feeling". Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker, who rushed to the scene with the Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, called it "a national tragedy, that had shaken the entire country." He said there were no words to describe "the pain and grief that we all – the whole of Austria – is feeling". Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria. Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where President van der Bellen has his office, will fly at half-mast. Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 persons, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. But school shootings here are rare. There have been a few incidents over the years that have involved far fewer casualties: In 2018 a 19-year-old was shot by another youth in Mistelbach, north of Vienna In 2012 in St Pölten, a pupil was shot dead by his father In 1997, in Zöbern, a 15-year-old killed a teacher and seriously injured another And in 1993 a 13-year-old boy in Hausleiten seriously injured the head teacher and then killed himself. Austria's most violent gun attack in recent years took place in the heart of Vienna in November 2020. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist ran through the centre of the city opening fire, before he was eventually shot by police. Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, while revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed only with official authorisation. Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms licence or a valid hunting licence, or for members of traditional shooting clubs. The Graz gunman is understood to have owned both firearms legally, and he had no criminal record. One of his guns was bought only the day before the attack, according to one report. Outside the school, a young man on a bicycle watched as the police allowed security vehicles through the security cordon round the school. "It's horrific," he told me. "This is my home. I can't understand how so many people my age are dead. This shouldn't happen here."
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ABC News Fires Terry Moran Over Social Media Post Criticizing Trump Administration Official
ABC News has let Terry Moran go after the correspondent's recent social media post criticizing a member of President Donald Trump's administration. 'We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision to not renew,' an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement to TVLine. 'At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.' More from TVLine Sign Up for The Binge Drop, TVLine's Newsy Daily Newsletter ABC News Suspends Terry Moran After Scathing Social Media Post Calling Trump Official a 'World Class Hater' S.W.A.T. Vet Jay Harrington Breaks Silence on EXILES Surprise: 'I Did Not Have Spinoff on My Bingo Card' (Exclusive) TVLine has reached out to Moran for comment. The network suspended Moran Sunday after he wrote an X post Saturday that called Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a 'world-class hater.' 'The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism,' he wrote in the post, which has since been deleted. 'Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy. But that's not what's interesting about Miller. It's not brains. It's bile. Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He's a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate. Trump is a world-class hater. But his hatred only a means to an end, and that end his his own glorification. That's his spiritual nourishment.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance both posted about Moran Sunday, calling for ABC News to 'hold Terry accountable.' Moran joined ABC in 1997 and was the network's senior national correspondent and an anchor for the ABC News Live streaming service. He also led ABC's coverage of the Supreme Court. He recently interviewed Trump in the White House. Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tuesday's Mini-Report, 6.10.25
Today's edition of quick hits. * Californian leaders head to court: 'California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are asking a judge to bar the Trump administration from using federalized National Guard and active duty Marines for law enforcement purposes on the streets of Los Angeles.' * On a related note, the aforementioned litigation faces an uphill climb: 'One problem for the state's lawsuit is that there is of course no settled definition of what a rebellion is.' * The suspected shooter was among the fatalities in Austria's school shooting: 'At least 11 people were killed and several others injured in a school shooting Tuesday in the southern Austrian city of Graz. A spokesperson for the Graz Regional Hospital told NBC News that 11 people had died following the incident at the BORG Dreierschützengasse school, a secondary school located in the northwest of the city.' * Rulings like these sure have been common lately: 'President Donald Trump acted unlawfully when he issued an executive order applying an 18th century law to alleged Venezuelan gang members to expedite their removal from the United States, an El Paso federal judge ruled Monday.' * A case out of Georgia that we've been keeping an eye on: 'The State Election Board exceeded its authority by passing new voting rules last year, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, limiting the Republican-led board's power. The 96-page decision upholds a lower court decision that invalidated rules that would have required hand counts of ballots and election inquiries.' * Difficult diplomacy: 'Iran said Monday that it will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems 'unacceptable,' while U.S. President Donald Trump said talks would continue. Trump made clear that the two sides remained at odds over whether the country would be allowed to continue enriching uranium on Iranian soil.' * Will the CFPB ever be what it once was? 'Cara Petersen, the acting head of enforcement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, quit on Tuesday after sending a fiery email to her department denouncing the Trump administration's efforts to gut the watchdog agency.' * The fight over forced-reset triggers is a very big deal: 'A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the Trump administration's reversal of a Biden-era effort to curb the spread of devices that turn semiautomatic rifles into makeshift machine guns. The lawsuit, filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia in Federal District Court in Maryland, came after the Trump administration abandoned legal efforts to stop distribution of the devices and agreed to return thousands of the devices the government had seized.' See you tomorrow. This article was originally published on