Siden 1970'erne er det blevet brugt i sin nuværende betydning. Udtrykket bruges ofte nedsættende af kritikere af neoliberalismen,<ref>{{cite book|author= Noel Castree|title= A Dictionary of Human Geography|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eYWcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA339|year= 2013|publisher= Oxford University Press|page= 339|quote= 'Neoliberalism' is very much a critics' term: it is virtually never used by those whom the critics describe as neoliberals.|isbn= 9780199599868}}</ref><ref name="Jones2014">{{cite book|author= Daniel Stedman Jones|title= Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cMs0AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|date= 21. juli 2014|publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn= 978-1-4008-5183-6|quote= Friedman and Hayek are identified as the original thinkers and Thatcher and Reagan as the archetypal politicians of Western neoliberalism. Neoliberalism here has a pejorative connotation.|page=13}}</ref> men er også udbredt som en neutral betegnelse i [[videnskab]]elige [[politologi]]ske sammenhænge.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Neoliberalism: From New Liberal Philosophy to Anti-Liberal Slogan |author= Taylor C. Boas, Jordan Gans-Morse |journal= Studies in Comparative International Development |date= juni 2009 |volume= 44 |issue= 2 |pages= 137–61 |doi= 10.1007/s12116-009-9040-5 |quote= Neoliberalism has rapidly become an academic catchphrase. From only a handful of mentions in the 1980s, use of the term has exploded during the past two decades, appearing in nearly 1,000 academic articles annually between 2002 and 2005. Neoliberalism is now a predominant concept in scholarly writing on development and political economy, far outpacing related terms such as monetarism, neoconservatism, the Washington Consensus, and even market reform.}}</ref><ref name="Handbookscholarship">{{cite book |editor1-last= Springer|editor1-first= Simon |editor2-last= Birch|editor2-first= Kean |editor3-last= MacLeavy|editor3-first= Julie|date= 2016 |title= The Handbook of Neoliberalism|url= https://www.routledge.com/The-Handbook-of-Neoliberalism/Springer-Birch-MacLeavy/p/book/9781138844001|location= |publisher= [[Routledge]] |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=M5qkDAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false 1] |isbn= 978-1138844001|quote= Neoliberalism is easily one of the most powerful concepts to emerge within the social sciences in the last two decades, and the number of scholars who write about this dynamic and unfolding process of socio-spatial transformation is astonishing.}}</ref> Moderne tilhængere af neoliberale ideer anvender derimod sjældent selv begrebet.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/06/the-imf-confronts-its-n-word-neoliberalism/ |title= The IMF Confronts Its N-Word|last= Rowden|first= Rick|date= 6. juli 2016|website= Foreign Policy|access-date= 2018-11-23}}</ref>
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