Page 100 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 100
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 1–2
primary research areas are: cultural studies, youth studies, critical pedago-
gy, popular culture, media studies, social theory, and the politics of high-
er and public education. He is particularly interested in what he calls the
war on youth, the corporatization of higher education, the politics of ne-
oliberalism, the assault on civic literacy and the collapse of public memo-
ry, public pedagogy, the educative nature of politics, and the rise of vari-
ous youth movements across the globe. His website can be found at www.
henryagiroux.com.
For several decades now, neoliberalism has been at the forefront
of discussions not only in the economy and finance but has infil-
trated our vocabulary in a number of areas as diverse as govern-
ance studies, criminology, health care, jurisprudence, education
etc. What has triggered the use and application of this ‘economis-
tic’ ideology associated with the promotion of effectiveness and
efficiency?
Neoliberalism has become the dominant ideology of the times and has es-
tablished itself as a central feature of politics. Not only does it define itself
as a political and economic system whose aim was to consolidate power in
the hands of a corporate and financial elite, it also wages a war over ideas.
In this instance, it has defined itself as a form of commonsense and func-
tions as a mode of public pedagogy that produces a template for structur-
ing not just markets but all of social life. In this sense, it has and contin-
ues to function not only through public and higher education to produce
and distribute market-based values, identities, and modes of agency, but
also in wider cultural apparatuses and platforms to privatize, deregulate,
economize, and subject all of the commanding institutions and relations
of everyday life to the dictates of privatization, efficiency, deregulation,
and commodification.
Since the 1970s as more and more of the commanding institutions of
society come under the control of neoliberal ideology, its notions of com-
mon sense – an unchecked individualism, harsh competition, an aggres-
sive attack on the welfare state, the evisceration of public goods, and its at-
tack on all models of sociality at odds with market values – have become
the reigning hegemony of capitalist societies. What many on the left have
failed to realize is that neoliberalism is about more than economic struc-
tures, it is also is a powerful pedagogical force – especially in the era of so-
cial media – that engages in full-spectrum dominance at every level of civil
society. Its reach extends not only into education but also among an array
of digital platforms as well as in the broader sphere of popular culture.
98
primary research areas are: cultural studies, youth studies, critical pedago-
gy, popular culture, media studies, social theory, and the politics of high-
er and public education. He is particularly interested in what he calls the
war on youth, the corporatization of higher education, the politics of ne-
oliberalism, the assault on civic literacy and the collapse of public memo-
ry, public pedagogy, the educative nature of politics, and the rise of vari-
ous youth movements across the globe. His website can be found at www.
henryagiroux.com.
For several decades now, neoliberalism has been at the forefront
of discussions not only in the economy and finance but has infil-
trated our vocabulary in a number of areas as diverse as govern-
ance studies, criminology, health care, jurisprudence, education
etc. What has triggered the use and application of this ‘economis-
tic’ ideology associated with the promotion of effectiveness and
efficiency?
Neoliberalism has become the dominant ideology of the times and has es-
tablished itself as a central feature of politics. Not only does it define itself
as a political and economic system whose aim was to consolidate power in
the hands of a corporate and financial elite, it also wages a war over ideas.
In this instance, it has defined itself as a form of commonsense and func-
tions as a mode of public pedagogy that produces a template for structur-
ing not just markets but all of social life. In this sense, it has and contin-
ues to function not only through public and higher education to produce
and distribute market-based values, identities, and modes of agency, but
also in wider cultural apparatuses and platforms to privatize, deregulate,
economize, and subject all of the commanding institutions and relations
of everyday life to the dictates of privatization, efficiency, deregulation,
and commodification.
Since the 1970s as more and more of the commanding institutions of
society come under the control of neoliberal ideology, its notions of com-
mon sense – an unchecked individualism, harsh competition, an aggres-
sive attack on the welfare state, the evisceration of public goods, and its at-
tack on all models of sociality at odds with market values – have become
the reigning hegemony of capitalist societies. What many on the left have
failed to realize is that neoliberalism is about more than economic struc-
tures, it is also is a powerful pedagogical force – especially in the era of so-
cial media – that engages in full-spectrum dominance at every level of civil
society. Its reach extends not only into education but also among an array
of digital platforms as well as in the broader sphere of popular culture.
98
