




































AGORA International Journal of Economical Sciences, http://univagora.ro/jour/index.php/aijes 

ISSN 2067-3310, E-ISSN 2067-7669 

Vol. 18, No. 1 (2024), pp. 290-301 

 

290 
 

THE SPIRITUAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CARTOGRAPHY 

OF THE HUMAN SUBCONSCIOUS AND THE STRUCTURES OF 

NEOLIBERAL THEOLOGY 

 

A.C. RATH-BOȘCA 

 

Albert Camil Rath-Boșca 

Faculty of Economic Sciences, Agora University of Oradea, Romania 

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6815-9509, E-mail:camilend@yahoo.com  

 

Abstract: Usually, an economist, a manager, a business administrator, or any other 

participating member of the free market has a single and clear view of the pecuniary value of 

goods and the nature of capital. The logic of capitalism allows the economic agent to assign 

clear values to goods based on several factors. Although such a strict view of a good and its 

nature is mechanically correct, it is an incomplete one. Economists and economic theorists 

more broadly agree that commercial goods, whether they are directed to the consumer or 

intermediate goods in the production chain, are the result of human labour. 

Keywords: neoliberalism, capitalism, economic, theories. 

 

INTRODUCTION 

 The economic structures of the 20th century, which are still used in our age, are 

concerned rather with economic ontology and teleology. The economist's concern is not man, 

but the structure formed by men to facilitate commerce between individuals, legal entities, or 

states. The 21st century has brought with it phenomenal technological progress, but at the same 

time it has brought new problems that the economic systems conceived and adopted in the past 

could not foresee and, as such, have no satisfactory solutions for the new human challenges. 

 Under the neoliberal empire, man becomes a product and all his activities become 

activities of a productive nature. Every time an ordinary citizen opens their phone and uses an 

app, regardless of the app, they provide data about their behavioural patterns for free. These 

data are perhaps, in our era, what the most valuable resources for all businesses, be they local 

or multinational. 

 Given the fact that post-modern human no longer has no moment to simply be human, 

but they are constantly a producer or an intermittent good with the aim of bringing new flows 

of capital into the "free market", we must ask what is the effect of such a new status as homo 

producitur on the human psyche. 

 

II. Neoliberalism, the monstrous offspring of Western thought. 

 Neoliberalism is a rare term in the perpetual terror machine we call mainstream media, 

yet every human being has an intimate phenomenological understanding of neoliberalism. We 

see either the effects or the offspring of neoliberalism in our daily lives. We see products, 

services, jobs, phenomena that cannot be observed in a Soviet or Keynesian economy.The birth 

of neoliberalism, or even a clear definition of the term, is a difficult task for any researcher. 

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6815-9509
mailto:camilend@yahoo.com


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Philosophically, we can identify neoliberal ideology from the writings of American 

economist Frank Hyneman Knight and Austrian economist Friedrich August Hayek. For these 

two economists, and for other neoliberal economists, the state must not intervene in any way 

in the free market. They are against communism and Keynesian models from every point of 

view, and even more, they believe that such economic models are the causes of the great 

financial crises. 

 For Hayek, the financial recession of the 1980s was caused by Keynesian economic 

models adopted in the interwar and immediate post-war period. According to his book, 

Unemployment and monetary policy, he criticizes the Keynesian model for the inflation it 

causes and its effects. 

 Through Keynesian policies such as social assistance or the public health system, the 

state is forced to produce more currency through national banks. Of course, through an influx 

of foreign currency into the economy, it will lose its value. Thus, inflation appears which 

appears to be excessive for neoliberal economists. 

 Hayek's proposed solution is temporary suffering followed by a return to normalcy 

(Hayek, p.13). If the currency stays at the same value during a recession, inevitably, some jobs 

will be lost, and a hard time will inevitably follow for the proletariat. 

 Hayek is not unaware of how ordinary citizens will perceive such anti-inflation 

measures. However, a politician must remain steadfast and impose unpopular measures to save 

the economy in the long run (Hayek, p.9). 

 It is impossible for an industrial or service-based economy to live with huge inflation 

like South American countries. This inflation results in "labour trickling". By tricking labour, 

Hayek refers to the change in the distribution of money and resources in periods of increased 

inflation and the attractiveness of certain jobs in periods of high inflation (Hayek, p.12), that 

is, certain games of perception that South American governments used to maintain an illusory 

economic balance. 

 If the first signs of recession are observed and countered, a depression of the economy, 

or an economic crisis, can be avoided. Again, Hayek considers necessary an economic 

restructuring that aims to stabilize the national currency by lowering wages, by fluctuating or 

elastic prices and a temporary suffering of the labour force. 

 Hayek condemns fiscal and political authorities for not understanding how the "game 

of economy" is played. For him, the return to the gold standard is a necessity that could once 

again stabilize the world economy (Hayek, p.19). 

 The second economist, whose work I consider essential to understanding neoliberalism, 

is Frank Hyneman Knight. The analysis of his essay Fallacies in The Interpretation of Social 

Cost is important. In this essay Knight criticizes the perspective of the British economists Pigou 

and Graham. 

 Pigou and Graham proposes the following thesis: if we give industry unlimited freedom 

then it will invest precious resources in goods or products whose needs cannot be economically 

met in the long run. 

 Example Pigou’s, that of public and private roads, is explained in the article (Knight, 

p.219). If there are two roads, one private but much too narrow for which a sum must be paid 

directly to the owner, and one free, wider but poorly maintained, the effect will be that at some 

point both roads will be used. 



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 This phenomenon happens because of the way these two roads are organized. On the 

one hand, the private road is more efficient because it is better maintained, but being too narrow 

it leads to delays in the transport of goods. The public road, although more dangerous for 

business because of its poor condition, will become equally attractive for the transport of goods. 

With this example Pigou wants to demonstrate the tendency of private industry to produce 

goods or provide services that tend to lead to financial losses. 

 Pigou believes that such infrastructure projects are more effective when the state takes 

charge of them and maintains them with tax money. If a private business were to manage such 

projects, it would not be able to provide as good a service because it would have to constantly 

aim for the maximum profit from the minimum investment. 

 Knight disputes this conception (Knight, p.224). In his view, if all the roads were 

private, these private companies would be obliged by their financial interest to provide good 

services. If all the roads are owned by private industry, each road user will pay an amount for 

the use of the roads directly to the road owner. Because of competition, prices must remain 

competitive but allow for road maintenance and owner profit (Knight, p.229). 

 Another factor invoked by Knight is the risk assumed by the investor. He also criticizes 

the "vague language" used by the economists Pigou and Graham. The latter do not compare 

different solutions to the problem of traffic and road use. Rather, they are speculating in the 

absence of a comparable example. There were no freeways or private roads at the time, 

meaning Pigou had no sample for his analysis, he could only guess. 

 Both Knight and Hayek died but, ironically, their dreams have been fully realized in 

America and the states that have been "democratized" by it. 

 These two economists together with other neoliberal economists such as Milton 

Friedman, Thomas Saul or James Buchanan had a major influence on politicians such as 

Thatcher, Nixon, Bill Clinton or Reagan. In the words of far-right journalist Andrew Brightbar 

"politics is upstream of culture". If politics has become neoliberal, culture will inevitably be 

sculpted in the neoliberal spirit. 

 Thanks to these politicians and the brutal and somewhat illogical liberalization of the 

economic market, we live in neoliberal culture in its entirety. According to the view of the 

Greek economist Yannis Varoufakis, "the ghost of Margaret Thatcher haunts the European 

economy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6H6tvVuGgo&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE). 

 All neoliberal economists are against centralized economies, state intervention and 

public services, and as such criticize in a harsh but sometimes fair manner such economic 

structures. However, I believe that these economists started from two false premises in their 

anti-Communist and anti-Keynesian crusade. 

 The first erroneous premise ascertained these economists is the human factor. 

Economists such as Marx, Maynard Keynes, Pigou, Ricardo, even the father of economic 

analysis, Adam Smith, focus on the welfare and survival of society. Man is the centre of 

economics, not the free market, not the game of economics, but man. For neoliberals, man is a 

resource and must be treated as such. 

 The second erroneous premise is the goodness and wisdom of the great capitalists. This 

premise is explored by Edward Bernays in his book Propaganda. Throughout the book, Bernays 

repeats this mantra countless times. Rich people form a kind of parallel government, but this is 

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really good from a moral point of view. Bernays considers the common people to be far too 

petty and indecisive to make decisions without being guided by someone, either directly or 

indirectly. 

 Both premises are observed in the internal politics of the United States. Domestically, 

America has adopted various policies that allow the free market to function without restrictions, 

such as the passage of the Tax Services Modernization Act in 1999 by the United States 

Parliament and then-President Bill Clinton. 

 The 1999 Act repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. Under the old legislation, the banks that 

offered investments could not also offer commercial products such as loans for the purchase of 

a property and vice versa (https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/glass-steagall-act). In 

1999 this limitation was removed. 

 Although this decision led to a period of economic boom, it was also the main cause of 

the financial crisis in the year 2008. Because of this new freedom, the banking system used all 

available resources for investments that led to an imbalance in the real estate market. 

  

II. Cartography of the subconscious (Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx). 

 This paradigm, "mapping the subconscious" is a vague one. To this day we cannot 

declare the human mind to be 'understood' or 'discerned'. Many aspects of the human mind 

remain undiscovered or unexplained. This realm, which exists but is inaccessible to man in a 

conscious manner, is called the subconscious. 

 The father of modern psychology and psychiatry, Sigmund Freud, himself identified 

several forms of the mental economy. In his 1900 book, the interpretation of dreams, Freud 

presents the topographical model of the mind and mentions the existence of an economic 

structure of the mind. 

 In the aforementioned book, Freud divides the human mind into 3 regions, 

subconscious, pre-conscious and conscious. Through the subconscious structure (Freud, 

p.613), Freud presents a part of the mind where there are certain desires and drives considered 

atypical but which cannot be fully understood. 

 This region of the mind it represents one of the two main objects of our study, namely, 

the subconscious. This force which conceals the totality of the initial intensities leading to 

conscious actions is still unknown to man. 

 Freud actually tries to propose the following route of the subconscious space. The 

conscious is only the sensory apparatus that perceives the external stimulus and influences the 

material world, pre- the conscious is the censorship barrier (Freud, p.616) that differentiates 

the impulses that have an effect on the subconscious topography. 

 The subconscious is where the self is born. This possibility is observed in artists who 

rather present the artistic process as an unconscious or subconscious process (Freud, p.613). 

Thus, the subconscious finally acquires a tangible form. 

 A first economic structure presented by Freud is that of matter and dream. According 

to Freud's ideas, matter is for dreams the equivalent of an investor for an entrepreneur (Freud, 

p.561). For an entrepreneur to be able to start a business, he will need one or more investors. 

In some cases, the entrepreneur is also the sole investor. In other situations, one investor will 

sponsor several future entrepreneurs or several investors will contribute to a single business. 

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/glass-steagall-act


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 Freud observed a connection between the material conditions of the psychoanalytic 

subject and dreams to it, the subconscious processes that we cannot understand concretely. The 

third element introduced by Freud is quantity. Quantity for Freud is actually the level of 

intensity of experience and how the subconscious processes this quantity. 

 If the physical experience is strong enough, it will become the central point of a dream, 

a series of dreams, or, because of insufficient intensity of an experience, it will become a 

secondary point of the dream. So, we see a direct connection between our desires, ideas, dreams 

and the material world. These elements of the material world that we perceive through our 

senses, through consciousness thus become parts of the subconscious relief. 

 Freud describes this investment of libidinal energy by the terms catechesis and anti-

catechesis. The influence of the material world manifests itself between these two actions of 

investing interest in certain objects, people or concepts or not. 

 Another economic form of the mind conceived by Freud is that of excitations. In his 

1920 book, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud proposes an economic form whose capital is 

vivacity. Through Thanatos, the drive to destroy or self-destruction of the psychoanalytic 

subject, there is an increase in the level of liveliness, while Eros, the pleasure drive of the 

psychoanalytic subject, decreases the level of liveliness (Freud, 1920, p.3). 

 Through this simplified economic form, Freud suggests a desire of all living things to 

return to their inorganic form (Freud 1920, p.21). This economy of ecstasy, in a subconscious 

way, leads us to certain painful starts or to the repetition of some traumas through actions of a 

symbolic nature. We repeat these actions in order to acquire an active role in the traumatic 

scenario, because in this way we acquire a level of control (Freud 1920, p.29). 

 These two economic forms of the human psyche are factors that shape the subconscious. 

As such, the relief of the real but invisible self is modified by the economy of vivacity and by 

the economy of consciousness-processed experiences. While the dream-matter economy is 

direct, that of vividness is an internal one based on the subject's experience. These two 

economic forms of the human psyche are comparable to international trade and national trade 

respectively. 

 However, Freud was not the first thinker to observe and hypothesize the connection 

between mental and material space. 

Another thinker who intuited and analysed the mind-matter relationship is Karl Marx. 

Although Karl Marx's ideas were demonized due to the failure of the Soviet Union, his critique 

of the capitalist system remains not only the most coherent, but also the most comprehensive 

to this day. 

 For Marx, capitalist society is defined by the possession of goods, more precisely, by 

the accumulation of a "heap of goods" (Marx, p.27). This description is correct, the main 

characteristic of a capitalist, consumer society is the accumulation of many goods, this 

becoming an incipient form of theology. These goods are not simply possessions. These have 

various metaphysical, moral, social and aesthetic implications (Marx, p.27). 

 The three aspects of a psychoanalytic nature presented by Marx that are relevant to our 

discussion are the materialist dialectic, alienation, and fetishization of possessions. 

 Materialist dialectic is a modified form of Hegelian dialectic. Initially, the preliminary 

work was done by Ludwig Feuerbach (https://www.marxists.org/romana/dictionar/f/ 

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Albert Camil RATH-BOȘCA 

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Feuerbach_Ludwig.htm). From Feuerbach's perspective, man becomes the centre of 

philosophy again, not the spirit that studies itself through material forms. 

 Marx modified the concept of materialist dialectics. Human consciousness is formed by 

its interaction with matter and other human consciousnesses. I specified a first characteristic of 

the subconscious, namely, that it is the real self but hidden and formed by the material world. 

For Marx and Engels, the dialectic does not start from the top down but from "earth to heaven" 

(John Rees, p.60). There is no subconscious/conscious separation in his work, but there are 

"spiritual" effects of the material world. 

 Marx starts from the "species-being" dialectic (Karl Marx, pp.127-128). Through this 

dialectic, each species certain inherent characteristics can be attributed to it. For man, the 

inherent characteristic is work. The human species works beyond its basic needs. We want 

certain kinds of clothes, certain tools used for work, certain new goods that do not satisfy basic 

needs but acquire social value through their possession and use. 

 Alienation is a phenomenon that begins with the birth of trade in the ancient world. 

From the moment two goods have a pecuniary value, as such, they can be exchanged through 

currency or barter, there is a separation between the work done to obtain a good and the person 

who worked to create this good (Karl Marx, p.51-53). 

 The alienation of goods is a necessary process of modern civilization. Contemporary 

societies can only exist on the basis of complex and well-organized networks of trade and 

transport. However, Marx views labour power as a good in itself that the worker exchanges for 

money (Karl Marx, p.402). Through this process of exchange between the labour power of the 

proletarian and the capitalist, man feels useless. Work being the essential characteristic of man, 

he cannot but feel deprived of "spirit" (Hegel, p. 256-257) 

 The fruit of labour, the goods created by the worker, become separated by the author. 

In some cases, an ordinary worker would not be able to afford the products that come out of 

the factory where he works. This distance between people and the fruit of their work, the 

product of human nature, is heart-breaking. 

 The third psychological aspect derived from Marx's writings is the fetishization of 

goods. The fetishization of goods is rather a pathology of early economists, such as Ricardo or 

Smith (Karl Marx, pp.51-53), who considered that goods have an intrinsic value (Adam Smith, 

p.51). 

 For Marx, goods have a strictly social function and value. Through the evolution of 

trade, goods also acquire a social value beyond that obtained through the work done to obtain 

it or through the rarity of the raw material (Karl Marx, p.223). 

 For example, a branded shirt will be worth much more than a generic one bought at a 

thrift store. With this purchase, the man is not buying a shirt, but the guarantee of quality and 

the social value of this company. This is the manifestation of commodity fetishism from the 

consumer's perspective. Through these acquisitions, the proletarian wants to copy the capitalist 

and his erroneous consciousness (Karl Marx, p.217). 

 For Marx, consciousness is man himself expressing himself through material actions, 

he does not in any way develop a differentiation between subconscious and conscious 

processes. However, Marx noticed before Freud the clear connection between the material 

world and the inner world in which man lives as a subject divided between the subconscious 

and the conscious. 

https://www.marxists.org/romana/dictionar/f/%20Feuerbach_Ludwig.htm


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 The difference between Freud and Marx is of course the political element. Because of 

the separation of the proletariat from the means of production and because of the financial 

surplus produced by labour, it becomes alienated and obsessed with improving its financial and 

social condition. 

 By superimposing the political and psychoanalytic conceptions of Marx on the Freudian 

subconscious structure we arrive at a new relief of the subconscious. The self is born in the 

subconscious. This self is formed through consciousness by external stimuli. These external 

factors are either material in nature or the expression of consciousness through the actions of 

other people. Through other consciousnesses, the material world and the goods that make up 

this world are modified to facilitate human life or to generate a profit. 

 The progress of material standards comes with new psychological problems such as the 

alienation or fetishization of goods. These problems are reflected not only in political or 

economic structures, but also in the formation of the self and in the economic equations that 

take place in the human subconscious, whether we are talking about the economy of dreams or 

the economy of ecstasy. 

 We can therefore call the subconscious as the real but hidden self, a series of exchanges 

between impulses balanced by eros and Thanatos built by the material conditions of the 

psychoanalytic subject. Man is hidden from himself, but he can discern his real person by 

analysing his material conditions and how they have built him. 

 

III. Neoliberal theology, between Buddhist mythology and Catholic oppression. 

 Now that we have clear concepts about what neoliberalism actually is and we have an 

obvious model about the human subconscious, we have one last step left to solve the problem 

proposed in the title, namely, how an economic and political category becomes a religious one. 

 Everyone knows Nietzsche's famous phrase "God is dead and we are the doers", but we 

wonder how many really understand what he is trying to say. By the death of God, we really 

mean the disconnection of man from the religious structures that have held him in check and 

tyrannically controlled him and forced him to live under the empire of slave morality. Nietzsche 

actually offers an optimistic proposition, namely that in the absence of an all-powerful God, 

man is free to decide what he wants to do. 

 However, the essence of religion and remains steeped in the symbolic order of all 

persons, from the religiously devout to the convinced atheist. Mircea Eliade captures this 

dimension of reality in his book The Sacred and the Profane. 

 All religions are, into a large extent, identical in formation, functions, hierarchies, 

conditions of membership and the goals proposed to followers. 

 Any religion, Eliade says, begins with a myth that is a sacred reality (Eliade, pp.95-

100). Even farming is, in fact, a sacred activity in religious communities. The totality of the 

actions, whether undertaken by the Eskimos, by the Dacians or by the Yoruba tribes, are 

imitations of religious rituals and myths. These myths are sacred periods that open the 

opportunity for the common, primitive and simple man to imitate the genesis provided by the 

heroes and gods of his religion. 

 This structure, however, in the absence of a universalized divinity in small tribes or 

relatively homogeneous civilizations, remains present in the subconscious of humanity. In the 



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absence of God, man chose to create a new golden calf (Exodus 32:1-4, Al-A'raf, 148) to 

control the order he was accustomed to since the birth of the first bipedal primates. 

 Neoliberalism has become a cultural force through the development of state policies 

and by encouraging the market to create goods that may be pleasant or luxurious but are 

fundamentally useless to human life. We can live without 120 cm TVs. but we cannot live 

without water and food. 

 Of course, the usual patterns emerge when we observe neoliberalism as an 

anthropologist would observe an early religion. The elements to be analysed, the roles that the 

participants of this new religion are the following: the supreme deity, messianic figures, saints, 

priests, non-practicing members, sinners and heretics. 

 The supreme deity of neoliberalism is the capital. The totality of the devout members 

of the church worships profit, efficiency, and generally, the illusion or excess of wealth. 

 Messianic figures are today's rich people. Anyone who owns huge amounts of capital 

is held up as an example to the populace, as a mythological hero. The totality of these figures 

has a messianic image but not a Christian one, rather, these hooligans take the example of 

Prince Siddhartha, the founder of the Buddhist religion. 

 The prince Siddhartha is the first person to attain enlightenment according to Buddhist 

mythology. He became divine by finding the 8 divine paths. In the same way, the great 

capitalists have stories of the hardships they experienced before they discovered wealth or the 

noble path to Nirvana. 

 Both Elon Musk and Trump are perfect examples of this charade. In both cases they 

present their life before riches as hard and poor. In reality, Trump started his businesses with a 

"small loan of a million dollars" (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-

his-father-was-more-like-60point7-million-nyt.html) from his father. Elon Musk is the son of 

Errol Musk (https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-

denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son- 380484-2023-05-

08), a man who owned an emerald mine in South Africa, giving him the money and opportunity 

to develop whatever business he wanted. 

 We see a certain level of cognitive dissonance in the case of neoliberal messianic 

figures. They want to be perceived as Prince Siddhartha who attained divinity through the noble 

paths but rather, they resemble the demigods of Greek mythology. Born in the right 

conjunctures to reach this greatness. 

 Of course, in this structure there are people who have extraordinary talent and have 

managed to reach this „materialistic enlightenment" through their own efforts and powers, but 

they benefited most of the time from the opportune moment and the necessary conditions for 

this becoming. 

 The neoliberal saints they are of course the first capitalists of the 19th and 20th 

centuries. People like Ford, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc. are considered models of 

these new messianic figures. Again, the same cognitive dissonance existed at the birth of 

capitalism. Most of these industrial magnates were the right people in the right place and 

committed illegalities or morally deplorable deeds in order to maintain their messianic status 

for their times. 

 A good example of this falsehood present since the birth of capitalism is John D. 

Rockefeller. He is the founder of the American company then called Standard Oil. Through 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-his-father-was-more-like-60point7-million-nyt.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-his-father-was-more-like-60point7-million-nyt.html
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son-380484-2023-05-08
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son-380484-2023-05-08
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son-380484-2023-05-08


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her famous investigation journalist Ida Tarbell demonstrated the reality of the monopoly 

created by Rockefeller. 

 A first step towards the domination of the oil market undertaken by Rockefeller was the 

founding of the Southern Improvement Company. This company was really meant to spy and 

observe the entire market (Tarbell, p.39). Another purpose of this company is to secure a 

preferential price for Standard Oil. 

 This hawkish attitude of Rockefeller dome was his interaction with Robert Hanna, the 

holder of a small oil refineries. When he sought help from the Southern Improvement 

Company, he encountered new difficulties. The company representative told both him and 

other small industrialists about the preferential price Standard Oil received for transporting 

gasoline (Tarbell, p.40). The objective of these economic operations was actually to hinder and 

even bankrupt the competition. 

 Such tactics reduced the number of oil refineries in the state of Cleveland from 26 to 6 

(Tarbell, p.47). He continued his mission of monopolizing the oil industry through similar 

tactics (Tarbell, p.51) aided of course by his good friend, railroad magnate Vanderbilt (Tarbell, 

p.61). 

 Such unethical actions that resulted in the loss of hundreds or thousands of jobs and the 

creation of a monopoly, was stopped by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the case of 

United States v. Standard Oil in 1911 that led to the dissolution of the monopoly. 

 As for the priesthood, the only people fit for such a role are politicians. Regardless of 

the ideology that these politicians present to the public, they remain in the neoliberal paradigm 

theology. They can propose Keynesian measures or even, God forbid, socialist measures, but 

all these measures must be in tune with the desires of the neoliberals. 

 This truth is visible through the media assassination of politicians like Bernie Sanders 

or Jeremy Corbin. In both cases these people wanted to raise the wages of the countries' workers 

in which they were running for the presidency respectively, the role of Prime Minister of Great 

Britain and to create viable national health systems. 

 The best example of such stringent policies to maintain neoliberal spiritual hegemony 

is the case of former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who refused certain 

compromises (https://jacobin.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-

australia). Because of his refusal, and because he wanted trade relations with Yugoslavia and 

Australia's exit from the Vietnam War, he resorted to using a forgotten ruse. 

 Through the Governor-General of Australia at the time, Lord John Kerr, (a position left 

over from the end of Australia's colonial period, the person appointed to this position of sell 

the role of defending the interests of the British crown) decided to dismiss him. 

 Non-practicing members of the religion are ordinary people living in neoliberal 

economies. These people, although not devoted to religion per se, must practice in a 

rudimentary manner the rituals of labour exploitation as explained by Marx through alienation.  

 Who are the sinners of neoliberalism? Poor people. People who cannot achieve financial 

salvation are seen as lazy, incompetent, mediocre or in some cases malevolent by the neoliberal 

capitalist. One of the most barbaric myths of neoliberalism is meritocracy. If a man is poor, 

this man deserves his fate. Neither neoliberal theology nor classical liberal ideology is equipped 

https://jacobin.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia
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with the empathy or dialectical understanding necessary to perceive the material and social 

conditions that create poverty. 

 The heretics of neoliberalism are those economic subjects who are enough insightful to 

understand these religious/ideological mechanisms in part. These people who organize 

themselves in NGOs, in cooperatives or choose to live an isolated and solitary life. These 

people consciously refuse to participate in neoliberal religion. 

 

IV. Digitization, the Lutheran revolution of neoliberal theology. 

 What do we mean by digitization? This term has haunted Romanian media and politics 

ever since the government of former prime minister Dacian Cioloș (https://www.romania-

actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-

publice-id87506.html). For 8 years, our country has been trying to get in line with other 

European countries and digitize the thick bureaucracy of the Romanian state. Of course, this is 

a monumental task for any government but, it is no excuse for the countless failures of 

governments in the last 8 years in terms of digitization (https://www.europafm.ro/esecul-

digitalizarii-statul-roman-cosmin-savu/). 

 Although digitization has acquired the role of a sublime object (Zizek, pp.12-15) of the 

Romanian media, we must broaden the meaning of the notion. In 2021, the Telekom company 

started a study by which it estimates that 97% of Romanians have a smartphone 

(https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizazea-

smartphone-peste-40-19968784). This figure indicates that the vast majority of the population 

is partially digitized. Every citizen has at hand a device that allows him to access the Internet. 

 This state of affairs is a double covenant. On the one hand, access to the Internet has 

become essential to everyday life, but on the other hand, this dependence on new technologies 

alarmingly increases not only human isolation but also creates new layer of alienation between 

the worker and the product of his labour. 

 No matter what we search on the Internet, each result accessed from the list provided 

by the search engine has become a new product in the form of data generated and sent to the 

Internet operator and the network used to find the object of the search. 

 This product will in turn be invisible to the manufacturer. This virtual data they are sent 

to big digital companies and processed to later become the fuel for new forms of commodity 

fetishization. Desire and necessity become indistinguishable under such conditions. 

 Hunger is a state of fact strictly related to the material world of the subject, lust, on the 

other hand, is a cultural form of desires. There is a level of mediation between the initial hunger 

drive and food choice. The effect of neoliberalism through digital channels is the confusion of 

these two signals and channels of the subconscious economy. 

 What the what we eat is inevitably influenced by advertisements, propaganda. In the 

digital age advertisements are chosen automatically based on data collected through internet 

usage. These ads will not suggest nutritionally rich food. Most likely, they will recommend 

deeply unhealthy food. This is neoliberal theology in action. The common man is a resource, a 

factory and a consumer. 

 In the absence of digitization, such new forms of oppression would not be possible. Of 

course, standard practices of neoliberalism such as the privatization of some state institutions 

https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html
https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html
https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html
https://www.europafm.ro/esecul-digitalizarii-statul-roman-cosmin-savu/
https://www.europafm.ro/esecul-digitalizarii-statul-roman-cosmin-savu/
https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizeaza-smartphone-peste-40-19968784
https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizeaza-smartphone-peste-40-19968784


THE SPIRITUAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CARTOGRAPHY OF THE HUMAN 

SUBCONSCIOUS AND THE STRUCTURES OF NEOLIBERAL THEOLOGY 

 

300 
 

would continue but not at this level. Digitization among the global population has accelerated 

these problems. 

 As for Romania's political class, about the neoliberal priesthood, we observe a bizarre 

situation. The Romanian politician was educated by communist politicians who, in turn, were 

educated in a tyrannical ideology. The same politicians from the communist period together 

with their teachers have become the neoliberal priests of the Romanian rite. This "priesthood" 

led to the birth of a period of economic wilderness between the years 1989-1991 where many 

millionaires appeared seemingly overnight (https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-

digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-

440864). 

 Under the yoke of this new double covenant, the Romanian politician is caught between 

Soviet education and the neoliberal market. For almost 35 years, these Romanian political 

actors have not been able to develop a clear identity of political parties or internal policies. 

They are really deficient priests of neoliberal theology, not being able to apply brute theory 

skilfully enough to maintain the illusion of safety. 

 This situation actually creates a high level of mistrust for foreign investors 

(https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-

expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe) or for the European Union 

(https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productei-de-servicii-

din-uniunea-europeana-21551758). 

 Due to the lack of coherence of these thugs who will themselves as the archangels of 

neoliberalism, the country cannot have the public services typical of the Keynesian or socialist 

economy, nor the neoliberal illusion of wealth. The common man, again, is being forgotten by 

neoliberal politics, economics and theology. 

 Digitization atglobal level is a Lutheran revolution of neoliberal theology. If in the past 

there were some reasonable limits on the free market that guaranteed the safety of the consumer 

or customer, the Internet manages to avoid such measures with great ease. 

 The digital space presents a new market that has relatively low entry costs and infinite 

potential for profits. What are NFTs if not wildly expensive products with no practical value 

whatsoever. Such products are revolutionary for neoliberal religion. The effort is almost non-

existent, the potential profit is infinite. 

  

CONCLUSIONS 

 Angrboda is the mother of all monsters in Norse mythology. This image of 

neoliberalism as its last generation is ideal, in my opinion. This last growth was strong enough 

to give birth to a new secular religion of consumption and production in the absence of any 

clearly defined ethical boundaries that have man at the centre. 

 Digitalization is a new step in this religion of spiritual cannibalism that began with 

Hayek, Knight, Milton and their other ideological companions. But is it worth asking what we 

can do in such conditions? 

 An optimal solution would be to return to certain Keynesian measures, but such 

solutions are far too idealistic for the global decomposition of carried away by the new religion. 

https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864
https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864
https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864
https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe
https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe
https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productiei-de-servicii-din-uniunea-europeana-21551758
https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productiei-de-servicii-din-uniunea-europeana-21551758


Albert Camil RATH-BOȘCA 

301 
 

Such a return is impossible without the adoption of "tyrannical" measures to return to a balance 

between the freedom of economic markets and the welfare of the population.  

 The optimal solution would be to fight for our rights to be human trough political means 

such as voting, protesting, organising in” heretic cells”, and most of all, search for our lost 

humanity trough community. As kids would have, we need to go outside to” touch grass” and 

meet people in order to form community 

  

REFERENCES 

1. Frank Hyneman Knight, The Ethics of Competition, published by Freeport Printing, New 

York, USA, 1969 

2. Friedrich August Hayek, Unemployment and Monetary Policy, published by the Cato 

Institute, San Francisco, USA, 1980 

3. Ida Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, published by Belt Publishing, 

Cleveland, USA 2018 

4. Karl Marx, Capital Volume 1, published digitally by Marxist.org 

5. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, published by Harcourt, New York, USA, 1959 

6. Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, published by WW Norton & Company, 

New York, USA, 1975 

7. Sigmund Freud, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund 

Freud, published by Hogart Press, London, United Kingdom, 1971 

8. Slavoj Zizek, The Sublime Object of Ideology, published by Verso Books, London, UK, 

2008. 

9. https://jacobin.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia 

10. https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-

his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son- 380484-2023-05-08 

11. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-his-father-was-more-like-

60point7-million-nyt.html 

12. https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-

revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864 

13. https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-

expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe 

14. https://www.europafm.ro/esecul-digitalizarii-statul-roman-cosmin-savu/ 

15. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/glass-steagall-act  

16. https://www.marxists.org/romana/dictionar/f/Feuerbach_Ludwig.htm  

17. https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productei-de-

servicii-din-uniunea-europeana-21551758 

18. https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-

digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html 

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6H6tvVuGgo&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE 

20. https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizazea-

smartphone-peste-40-19968784 

https://jacobin.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son-380484-2023-05-08
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/amid-elon-musks-constant-denial-his-father-details-4-day-visit-to-emerald-mine-with-billionaire-son-380484-2023-05-08
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-his-father-was-more-like-60point7-million-nyt.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trumps-small-loan-from-his-father-was-more-like-60point7-million-nyt.html
https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864
https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/1990-anul-0/1990-anul-0-economia-dupa-revolutie-reforme-sabotate-ideologic-440864
https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe
https://www.euronews.ro/articole/romania-ultima-in-preferintele-investitorilor-straini-expertii-spun-ca-exista-spe
https://www.europafm.ro/esecul-digitalizarii-statul-roman-cosmin-savu/
https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/glass-steagall-act
https://www.marxists.org/romana/dictionar/f/Feuerbach_Ludwig.htm
https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productiei-de-servicii-din-uniunea-europeana-21551758
https://www.profit.ro/stiri/economie/romania-cel-mai-sever-declin-al-productiei-de-servicii-din-uniunea-europeana-21551758
https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html
https://www.romania-actualitati.ro/stiri/romania/dacian-ciolos-romania-urmareste-digitalizarea-administratiei-publice-id87506.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6H6tvVuGgo&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE
https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizeaza-smartphone-peste-40-19968784
https://www.zf.ro/business-hi-tech/telekom-romania-97-dintre-romani-utilizeaza-smartphone-peste-40-19968784

