A disproven orthodoxy can still reign supreme. Take the Catholic Church post-enlightenment to the mid 20th-century for example. Just because an orthodoxy fails and falters doesn't mean that it will fade away. There isn't an equivalent of atheism for economics - there are no "aneoliberals" or "aeconomicists".

Anyone who declared themselves "aeconomicist" would be ridiculed. That reaction should give anyone pause though. Ridicule is a powerful reality-maintenance mechanism. Economics is an extremely powerful reality-creating assemblage. Attempts beyond descriptive are met with intense skepticism and cynicism. Even here, in purported a bastion of competing ideas, normative economics are routinely lambasted.

The most common reality-maintenance mechanism is the reflexive "come up with a better idea then" response. It serves as a means of shutting down all discourse which ends up being antithetical and ultimately hypocritical to the mingling of ideas and curious questioning we claim to adhere to. The end result is implicit support for the status quo. Even if that isn't what is typically intended, it is functionally equivalent.

All my friends who think neoliberalism = "placing one's head in one's ass" call themselves "socialists". You are correct that they're ridiculed, though.

This is actually a really good example of re-enforcing the normalcy of ridicule in that it licenses others to do the same to the same groups of people. It's precisely this reality-enforcing mechanism that I'm attempting to point out. It's endlessly both funny and sad that even giving folks the ability to recognize it doesn't actually change anything.

TrickardRixx's reply is kind of perfect in that regard.

Exactly. I can imagine the response to having such a statement pointed out - "Well, it's true, though!" Which of course is a welcomed retort; we're talking about the social construction of reality[1] after all. Indeed, it is this very process of weaving truths by way of social interactions that is being examined.

1. Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The social construction of reality. Penguin Books.

> Attempts beyond descriptive are met with intense skepticism and cynicism. Even here, in purported a bastion of competing ideas, normative economics are routinely lambasted.

Which universe do you live in?

Normal people call for statism all the time.

For example pointing out that Germany manages to do just fine without a government snail mail provider, and that the US ain't so different and perhaps could do without, too, gets ridiculed.