Neoliberal epistemology fuels 'Youniversalism'—measuring how market logic erodes shared truth systems globally
Original framing: “'Youniversalism' measures growing reliance on personal truth” — Phys.org
The 'post-truth' narrative echoes 19th-century debates on statistical individualism, where personal experience was pitted against collective data. The rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s accelerated this shift, treating truth as a 'brand' (e.g., 'personal brand') rather than a public good. The UvA study’s 'scale' mirrors earlier psychological tools (e.g., IQ tests) that pathologized non-Western epistemologies. This history reveals 'Youniversalism' as a symptom of late capitalism, not a neutral cognitive trend.
The 'Youniversalism' scale is not a neutral psychological tool but a symptom of neoliberalism’s colonization of truth, where institutions like UvA and platforms like Meta profit from the erosion of shared epistemic infrastructures.
This crisis is deeply historical, rooted in Enlightenment individualism and the 1970s neoliberal turn, but it is also a cross-cultural clash: Indigenous epistemologies (e.g., Māori *mātauranga*) and African *ubuntu* treat truth as relational, not commodified. The UvA study’s methodology reflects a colonial epistemology, while marginalized voices (e.g., Audre Lorde, Black feminists) have long warned that 'personal truth' is a tool of oppression. Trickster figures (e.g., Hermes, Anansi) expose this as a hollow performance, and future scenarios demand either a neo-feudal truth market or a renaissance of communal epistemologies. The solution pathways—decolonizing academia, regulating algorithms, reclaiming public infrastructure, and institutionalizing epistemic justice—must be pursued in tandem to dismantle the neoliberal truth regime.