Mark Olssen

Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism

The ascendancy of neoliberalism and the associated discourses of ‘new public management’, during the 1980s and 1990s has produced a fundamental shift in the way universities and other institutions of higher education have defined and justified their institutional existence. The traditional professional culture of open intellectual enquiry and debate has been replaced with a institutional stress on performativity, as evidenced by the emergence of an emphasis on measured outputs: on strategic planning, performance indicators, quality assurance measures and academic audits. This paper traces the links between neoliberalism and globalization on the one hand, and neoliberalism and the knowledge economy on the other. It maintains that in a global neoliberal environment, the role of higher education for the economy is seen by governments as having greater importance to the extent that higher education has become the new star ship in the policy fleet for governments around the world. Universities are seen as a key driver in the knowledge economy and as a consequence higher education institutions have been encouraged to develop links with industry and business in a series of new venture partnerships. The recognition of economic importance of higher education and the necessity for economic viability has seen initiatives to promote greater entrepreneurial skills as well as the development of new performative measures to enhance output and to establish and achieve targets. This paper attempts to document these trends at the level of both political philosophy and economic theory.

Understanding the mechanisms of neoliberal control: lifelong learning, flexibility and knowledge capitalism

This paper argues that Foucault’s conception of governmentality provides a powerful tool for understanding learning and education and links the organisation of learning to both politics and economics in developed Western societies. What is offered by Foucault’s conception, I will argue, is a new version of superstructural sociology, which provides a means of understanding how educational and economic practices mutually condition and adapt to each other while avoiding the excesses that plagued Marxist analyses in the later 20th century, which represented such processes as the outcome of a necessary determination. Lifelong learning will be identified as a specifically neoliberal form of state reason in terms of its conception, emergence and development. Although it has manifested a uniformly consistent – albeit not exclusive – concern of serving dominant economic interests, the prospects for moving beyond it depend, I argue, on whether the structures of learning created can be harnessed for other ends; that is, whether embryonic within the discursive programme of lifelong learning is the possibility of linking the discourse to a progressive emancipatory project based upon egalitarian politics and social justice.

Michel Foucault: Materialism and Education

Michel Foucault is arguably one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century and his works are some of the most difficult to grasp. In Michel Foucault: Materialism and Education, Mark Olssen offers one of the most accessible overviews of Foucaults thought available to educators and general readers, putting into context the relevance of Foucaults thought (which is significant) to contemporary educational philosophy and theory. Olssen adds important new insights to Foucault scholarship by bringing to light the influences of other thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, Gramsci, Habermas, and others on Foucaults development as a thinker and their influence on the deep historical materialist strand that grounds and uniquely characterizes so much of Foucaults thought.

Neoliberalism, globalisation, democracy: challenges for education

This article examines the role of the state and of education in relation to globalisation and argues that it is not a question of globalisation or the nation‐state, but of globalisation and the nation‐state. In order to understand how globalisation might be represented as having both positive and negative effects on states, two forms of globalisation are distinguished, one which attests to the growing interconnectedness of states, and another which relates to the neoliberal policy agenda amongst western countries since the 1970s. The final section of the paper argues for a version of cosmopolitan democracy based on Foucault’s writings, which I term ‘thin communitarianism’. It argues that if survival and security are to be possible, then strategies that preserve the openness of power structures, based on dialogical communication are necessary as a way, in Rorty’s (1998) sense, of keeping the conversation going.This article examines the role of the state and of education in relation to globalisation and argues that it is not a question of globalisation or the nation‐state, but of globalisation and the nation‐state. In order to understand how globalisation might be represented as having both positive and negative effects on states, two forms of globalisation are distinguished, one which attests to the growing interconnectedness of states, and another which relates to the neoliberal policy agenda amongst western countries since the 1970s. The final section of the paper argues for a version of cosmopolitan democracy based on Foucault’s writings, which I term ‘thin communitarianism’. It argues that if survival and security are to be possible, then strategies that preserve the openness of power structures, based on dialogical communication are necessary as a way, in Rorty’s (1998) sense, of keeping the conversation going.

Structuralism, post-structuralism, neo-liberalism: assessing Foucault's legacy

This article traces Foucaults distinctive commitment to ‘post-structuralism’ through tracing the affinities and departures from structuralism. It is argued that under the infuence of Nietzsche, Foucaults approach marks a distinct break with structuralism in several crucial respects. What results is a materialist post-structuralism which is also distinctively different from the post-structuralism of writers such as Derrida, Lyotard and Baudrilliard. Foucaults account of neo-liberalism as an historically formed discourse is presented as an example of materialist post-structuralist analysis.

In defence of the welfare state and publicly provided education: a New Zealand perspective

This paper critically examines the crisis of welfare liberalism with specific reference to New Zealand education in order to speculatively reappraise the central principles upon which a revived welfare state could be constructed and in terms of which publicly provided education can be justified. Specifically it will seek to achieve these goals through a number of interrelated tasks. Firstly, it will examine the claims of neo‐liberal theory and argue that contradictions within this theory make its demise likely. To do this it will focus on themes relating to the efficiency of markets, rationality and consumer choice, the state and central planning as well as the issue of liberty. Secondly, in a more positive analysis, it will examine prospects for a return to the welfare state in the near future. This will involve an examination of some important criticisms of the traditional welfare state and an assessment of possible models in terms of which a revived, non‐bureaucratic welfare state could be constructed.

From the Crick Report to the Parekh Report: Multiculturalism, Cultural Difference, and Democracy--The Re-Visioning of Citizenship Education.

This paper attempts to develop a more sophisticated notion of multiculturalism in Britain. It starts by examining the philosophical basis of the Crick Report on citizenship education to resolve the theoretical tension between liberal and multicultural approaches to the subject. To achieve this resolution, it compares the Crick Report to the Parekh Report on the Future of Multi Ethnic Britain, published on 11th October 2000. The Parekh report is then used to critique the Crick report and re‐theorise the practical imperatives of multicultural citizenship education. I claim that the Crick report, typical of liberal analyses, is suspicious of departure from the presumption of a unified social structure, and represents citizenship education as the imposition of a uniform standard applied to all groups and peoples. On this basis it is claimed that, although the Crick Report’s conception of citizenship fails to adequately take account of cultural difference, it need not do so, as there is room within liberal approaches to citizenship education for a recognition of difference. The paper explains how such a resolution can be effected.This paper attempts to develop a more sophisticated notion of multiculturalism in Britain. It starts by examining the philosophical basis of the Crick Report on citizenship education to resolve the theoretical tension between liberal and multicultural approaches to the subject. To achieve this resolution, it compares the Crick Report to the Parekh Report on the Future of Multi Ethnic Britain, published on 11th October 2000. The Parekh report is then used to critique the Crick report and re‐theorise the practical imperatives of multicultural citizenship education. I claim that the Crick report, typical of liberal analyses, is suspicious of departure from the presumption of a unified social structure, and represents citizenship education as the imposition of a uniform standard applied to all groups and peoples. On this basis it is claimed that, although the Crick Report’s conception of citizenship fails to adequately take account of cultural difference, it need not do so, as there is room within liberal app...

Radical constructivism and its failings: Anti‐realism and individualism

Abstract Radical constructivism has had a major influence on present‐day education, especially in the teaching of science and mathematics. The article provides an epistemological profile of constructivism and considers its strengths and weaknesses from the standpoint of its educational implications. It is argued that there are two central problems with constructivism: anti‐realism and individualism which, in turn, lead to difficulties associated with idealism and relativism which, together, prove fatal for the theory.

Foucault, Educational Research and the Issue of Autonomy.

This article seeks to demonstrate a particular application of Foucaults philosophical approach to a particular issue in education: that of personal autonomy. The paper surveys and extends the approach taken by James Marshall in his book Michel Foucault: Personal autonomy and education. After surveying Marshalls writing on the issue I extend Marshalls approach, critically analysing the work of Rob Reich and Meira Levinson, two contemporary philosophers who advocate models of personal autonomy as the basis for a liberal education.

Neoliberal competition in higher education today: research, accountability and impact

Drawing on Foucault’s elaboration of neoliberalism as a positive form of state power, the ascendancy of neoliberalism in higher education in Britain is examined in terms of the displacement of public good models of governance, and their replacement with individualised incentives and performance targets, heralding new and more stringent conceptions of accountability and monitoring across the higher education sector. After surveying the defeat of the public good models, the article seeks to better understand the deployment of neoliberal strategies of accountability and then assess the role that these changes entail for the university sector in general. Impact assessment, I claim, represents a new, more sinister phase of neoliberal control. In the concluding section it is suggested that such accountability models are not incompatible with the idea of the public good and, as a consequence, a meaningful notion of accountability can be accepted and yet prized apart from its neoliberal rationale.