Education and Political Subjectivities in Neoliberal Times and Places

Education and Political Subjectivities in Neoliberal Times and Places investigates the conditions and possibilities for political subjectivities to emerge in international educational contexts, where neoliberal norms are repeated, performed and transformed. Through demonstrating the possibility of political subjectivities, this book argues that neoliberalism should neither be considered post-political, nor a natural law by which educational practices have to abide. This book considers how political subjectivities are made possible in education in spite of dominant neoliberal norms. Chapters address key theoretical discussions surrounding these different, sometimes contradicting, norms and their relationship to education, economy and politics. This innovative approach considers diverse educational and political initiatives in the wake of new public management, postcolonial perspectives on neoliberal education, and educational practices and critical possibilities. The book advocates understanding and enacting democracy as an experiment, based on the conception that democracy is constantly constructed and constitutes a transformative process in society in general as well as in education. This book advances the argument that there is still room for political subjectivity in spite of the dominance of neoliberal educational governance. It will appeal to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of higher education, education policy and politics, sociology of education and comparative and international education, as well as those interested in neoliberalism, new public management, and inequality.

Eva Reimers is Professor of Educational Practice at Linköping University, Sweden. Lena Martinsson is Professor of Gender Studies in the Department for Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

1. Introduction: Making trouble with neoliberalism, education and political subjectivity 2. Politics, subjectivity and education in neoliberal times: An interview with Gert Biesta 3. Messy norms and desire for education 4. Competition, accountability and performativity: Exploring schizoid neo-liberal 'equality objectives' in a UK primary school 5. Towards de-cold-war politics: Nationalism, democracy and new politics of/for education in Japan 6. Post-political governing of welfare state education in Sweden 7. Why education? Economic and political subjectivities in public discourses on education 8. Political subjectivity, political struggle and political education in times of precarization 9. Political subjectivity and the experiment of democracy - A conclusion