Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Neoliberal ideology, global capitalism, and science education: engaging the question of subjectivity

  • Published:
Cultural Studies of Science Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper attempts to add to the multifaceted discussion concerning neoliberalism and globalization out of two Cultural Studies of Science Education journal issues along with the recent Journal of Research in Science Teaching devoted to these topics. However, confronting the phenomena of globalization and neoliberalism will demand greater engagement with relevant sociopolitical thought in fields typically outside the purview of science education. Drawing from thinkers Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, and Louis Althusser this paper attempts to extend some key ideas coming from Ken Tobin, Larry Bencze, and Lyn Carter and advocates science educators taking up notions of ideology, discourse, and subjectivity to engage globalization and neoliberalism. Subjectivity (and its constitution in science education) is considered alongside two relevant textbook examples and also in terms of its importance in formulating political and culturally relevant questions in science education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Althusser, L. (1998). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In J. Rivkin & M. Ryan (Eds.), Literary theory, an anthology (pp. 294–304). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. (1981). Camera lucida: Reflections on photography. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, J. (1993). Symbolic exchange and death. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, J. (1998). The consumer society. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bencze, J. L. (2008). Private profit, science and science education: Critical problems and possibilities for action. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 8, 297–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bencze, J. L., & Carter, L. (2011). Globalizing students acting for the common good. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 648–669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bencze, L., Sperling, E., & Carter, L. (2012). Students’ research-informed socio-scientific activism: Re/visions for a sustainable future. Research in Science Education, 42, 129–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blades, D. W. (1997). Procedures of power and curriculum change: Foucault and the quest for possibilities in science education. New York: P. Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1998). On television. New York: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruna, K. R. (2009). Jesús and María in the jungle: An essay on possibility and constraint in the third-shift third space. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4, 221–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1995). Contingent foundations. In S. Benhabib (Ed.), Feminist contentions: a philosophical exchange (pp. 35–58). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, C. (2003). Nelson biology 12. Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, L. (2011a). Science education and globalisation (Lecture). Presented at: OISE/University of Toronto (SMT series).

  • Carter, L. (2011b). Gathering in threads in the insensible global world: The wicked problem of globalisation and science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, L. (Ed.), (2011c). Globalization and science education: global and local issues. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6, 1–12.

  • Chie, M. H., & Duit, R. (2011). Special issue on globalization in science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 553–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, B. (2006). Subjectification: The relevance of Butler’s analysis for education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27, 425–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiGiuseppe, M. (2003). Nelson biology 12. Canada: Nelson Thomson Learning.

  • Fensham, P. (2011). Globalization of science education: Comment and a commentary. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 698–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feyerabend, P. (1987). Farewell to reason. London: Verso.

  • Fiske, J. (1998). Culture, ideology and interpellation. In J. Rivkin & M. Ryan (Eds.), Literary theory, an anthology (pp. 305–311). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (1st American ed.). New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. In: H. L. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (pp. 208–226). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Foucault, M. (1984). What is enlightenment? In: P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault reader (pp. 32–50). New York: Pantheon.

  • Foucault, M. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 87–104). Hemel Hempstead, UK: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1994). The subject and power. In J. Faubion, & M. Foucault (Eds.), Power (pp. 326–348). New York: The New Press.

  • Foucault, M., Rabinow, P., & Rose, N. S. (2003). The essential Foucault: Selections from essential works of Foucault, 1954–1984. New York: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M., & Senellart, M. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S. (1995). Understanding modern societies: An introduction. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding, S. (2006). Science and social inequality: Feminist and postcolonial issues. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, C. (2001). Examining relations of power in a process of curriculum change: The case of VCE Physics. Research in Science Education, 31, 525–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodson, D. (2003). Time for action: Science education for an alternative future. International Journal of Science Education, 25, 645–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jameson, F. (1994). The seeds of time. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The structure of scientific revolutions (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemke, J. (2011). The secret identity of science education: Masculine and politically conservative? Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6, 287–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyotard, J. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, S. (Eds.), (2011). Science education in local/global contexts. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5, 263–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, P. (2000). Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the pedagogy of the revolution. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, S. (1997). Discourse. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, S. (2003). Michel Foucault. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ninnes, P. (2002). Discursive space(s) in science curriculum materials in Canada, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 34, 557–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, T. (2011). Consuming schools: Commercialism and the end of politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ontario Ministry of Education. (2008). The Ontario curriculum: grades 9 and 10. Retrieved on 15 September from, www.edu.gov.on.ca.

  • Popper, K. (1972). Objective knowledge; an evolutionary approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, M. L., & Harwood, V. (2003). Performativity, youth and injurious speech. Teaching and Education, 14, 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandlin, J. (2004). Consumerism, consumption, and a critical consumer education for adults. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 102, 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shumar, W. (2010). Homi Bhabha. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5, 495–506.

  • Snyder, L., & Broadway, S. (2004). Queering high school biology textbooks. Journal of research in science teaching, 41, 617–636.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin, K. (2011). Global reproduction and transformation of science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6, 127–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism (Student’s ed.). New York: Scribner.

  • University Corporation of Atmospheric Research. (n.d). Global learning and observations to benefit the environment. Retrieved from: http://globe.gov/.

  • Žižek, S. (2008). The sublime object of ideology (New ed.). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Žižek, S. (2011). Living in the end times (Rev. pbk. ed.). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Anastasios Siatras for the long hours spent talking about education, science, and the state of things.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Jesse Bazzul

Authors
  1. Jesse Bazzul
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesse Bazzul.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bazzul, J. Neoliberal ideology, global capitalism, and science education: engaging the question of subjectivity. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 7, 1001–1020 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9413-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9413-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation