Abstract
In this chapter, I draw on various literatures and theories spanning different academic disciplines to explore some of the connections between neoliberalism, citizenship, and education. Not to be confused with studies of citizenship education, this chapter documents how users of education services, specifically parents, are invited, even compelled, to perform certain responsibilities and obligations as bearers of consumer rights and champions of their own self-interest. Building on literature which likens citizenship to a “governmentality” (Hindess, Citizenship Stud 6(2):127–143, 2002; Ong, Neoliberalism as exception: mutations in citizenship and sovereignty. Duke University Press, Durham, 2006), this chapter examines the ways in which parents are invited to manage themselves responsibly and rationally through the proliferation of ever-greater forms of choice making and calculated risk in their navigation of and access to education provision. To evidence the range and reach of these interventions, this chapter adopts elements of Foucauldian discourse analysis (Sharp and Richardson, J Environ Policy Plan 3(3):193–209, 2001) through a study of key education policy texts to show how parents are imagined and activated as consumers (or “citizen-consumers”) in the field of education.
References
Adler, M., Petch, A., & Tweedie, J. (1989). Parental choice and educational policy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Apple, M. W. (2017). What is present and absent in critical analyses of neoliberalism in education. Peabody Journal of Education, 92(1), 148–153.
Ball, S. J. (2007). Education plc: Understanding private sector participation in public sector education. London: Routledge.
Ball, S. J., & Youdell, D. (2007). Hidden privatisation in public education. Brussels: Education International.
Beder, S. (2009). Neoliberalism and the global financial crisis. Social Alternatives, 8(1), 17–21.
Bevir, M. (2010). Rethinking governmentality: Towards genealogies of governance. European Journal of Social Theory, 13(4), 423–441.
Britzman, D. (2000). ‘The question of belief’: Writing: Poststructural ethnography. In E. A. S. Pierre & W. Pillow (Eds.), Working the ruins: Feminist poststructural theory and methods in education (pp. 27–40). New York: Routledge.
Brown, W. (2006). American nightmare: Neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and de-democratization. Political Theory, 34(6), 690–714.
Bruff, I. (2014). The rise of authoritarian neoliberalism. Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, 26(1), 113–129.
Castree, N. (2006). From neoliberalism to neoliberalisation: Consolations, confusions, and necessary illusions. Environment and Planning A, 38(1), 1–6.
Chandler, D., & Reid, J. (2016). The neoliberal subject: Resilience, adaptation and vulnerability. London/New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Clarke, J. (2004). Subjects of doubt: In search of the unsettled and unfinished. Paper prepared for CASCA annual conference, London, Ontario, 5–9 May.
Clarke, J. (2008). Living with/in and without neo-liberalism. Foccal, 51, 135–147.
Couldry, N., Stephansen, H., Fotopoulou, A., MacDonald, R., Clark, W., & Dickens, L. (2014). Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture. Citizenship Studies, 18(6–7), 615–629.
Davies, W. (2014). The limits of neoliberalism: Authority, sovereignty and the logic of competition. London: Sage.
Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. London: Sage.
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). (2006). Choice advice: Guidance for local authorities. London: Crown Copyright.
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). (2008). Duty to provide information, advice and assistance: Guidance for local authorities. London: Crown Copyright.
Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). (2001). Schools building on success. London: HMSO.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2004). Five year strategy for children and learners. London: HMSO.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2005). Higher standards, better schools for all. London: HMSO.
Department of Education and Science (DES). (1988). Education reform act. London: HMSO.
Department of Education and Science (DES). (1991). The parent’s charter: You and your child’s education. London: HMSO.
Duménil, G., & Lévy, D. (2004). Capital resurgent: Roots of the neoliberal revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Dunleavy, P. (1991). Democracy, bureaucracy and public choice: Economic explanations in political science. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Finlayson, A. (2003). Public choice theory: Enemy of democracy. Soundings, 24, 25–40.
Foucault, M. (1981). The order of discourse. In R. Young (Ed.), Untying the text: A post-structuralist reader (pp. 48–78). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Gewirtz, S., Ball, S. J., & Bowe, R. (1995). Markets, choice and equity in education. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Goldthorpe, J. (1998). Rational action theory for sociology. The British Journal of Sociology, 49(2), 167–192.
Gregory, D. (1994). Geographical imaginations. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hall, S. (2005). New Labour’s double – Shuffle. The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 27(3), 319–335.
Hall, S., & O’Shea, A. (2013). Common-sense neoliberalism. Soundings, 55(Winter), 8–24.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Higgens, V., & Larner, W. (2017). Introduction: Assembling neoliberalism. In V. Higgens & W. Larner (Eds.), Assembling neoliberalism: Expertise, practices, subjects (pp. 1–19). Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Hindess, B. (2002). Neo-liberal citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 6(2), 127–143.
HMSO. (1991). The citizen’s charter: Raising the standard (cm 1599). London: HMSO.
Houtart, F. (2016). The end of post-neoliberalism. Democracia Abierta. 7 July. Available here https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/fran-ois-houtart/end-of-post-neoliberalism.
Jessop, B., & Sum, N.-L. (2016). What is critical? Critical Policy Studies, 10(1), 105–109.
Johansson, H., & Hvinden, B. (2005). Welfare governance and the remaking of citizenship. In J. Newman (Ed.), Remaking governance: Peoples, politics and the public sphere (pp. 101–118). Bristol: Policy Press/University of Bristol.
Jonathan, R. (1997). Illusory freedoms: Liberalism, education and the market. Oxford: Blackwell.
Jones, R., Pykett, J., & Whitehead, M. (2013). Psychological governance and behaviour change. Policy and Politics, 41(2), 159–182.
Keat, R. (1991). Introduction: Starship Britain or universal enterprise? In R. Keat, N. Abercrombie, & N. Abercrombie (Eds.), Enterprise culture (pp. 1–20). London: Routledge.
Kivelä, S. (2018). Active citizenship, public sector and the markets: Freedom of choice as a state project in health care. Geoforum, 91, 160–169.
Larner, W. (2000). Neoliberalism: Policy, ideology and governmentality. Studies in Political Economy, 63, 5–25.
Le Grand, J. (2007). The other invisible hand: Delivering public services through choice and competition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Levi-Faur, D. (2005). The global diffusion of regulatory capitalism. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 598(1), 12–32.
Lewkowicz, J. (2015). Post-neoliberalism: Lessons from South America. Open Democracy UK. 9 February. Available here https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/javier-lewkowicz/postneoliberalism-lessons-from-south-america.
Linklater, A. (1998). Cosmopolitan citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 2(1), 23–41.
Lister, R. (2003). Citizenship: Feminist perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Lowe, R. (2005). Education. In P. Addison & H. Jones (Eds.), A companion to contemporary Britain 1939–2000 (pp. 281–296). Oxford: Blackwell.
Marshall, T. (1950). Citizenship and social class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKee, K. (2009). Post-Foucauldian governmentality: What does it offer critical social policy analysis? Critical Social Policy, 29(3), 465–486.
Mirowski, P. (2009). Postface. In P. Mirowski & D. Plehwe (Eds.), The road from Mont Pèlerin: The making of the neoliberal thought collective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Newman, J. (2001). Modernising governance: New labour, policy and society. London: Sage.
Office of Public Services Reform (OPSR). (2002). Reforming our public services: Principals into practice. London: Office of Public Services Reform.
Olmedo, A., Bailey, P. L., & Ball, S. J. (2013). To infinity and beyond …: Heterarchical governance, the teach for all network in Europe and the making of profits and minds. European Educational Research Journal, 12(4), 492–512.
Ong, A. (2006). Neoliberalism as exception: Mutations in citizenship and sovereignty. Durham: Duke University Press.
Pakulski, J. (1997). Cultural citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 1(1), 73–86.
Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2015). Fast policy: Experimental statecraft at the thesholds of neoliberalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Peck, J., & Tickell, A. (2002). Neoliberalizing space. Antipode, 34(3), 380.
Peck, J., Theodore, N., & Brenner, N. (2009). Neoliberal urbanism: Models, moments, mutations. SAIS Review, 29(1), 49–66.
Plehwe, D. (2009). Introduction. In P. Mirowski & D. Plehwe (Eds.), The road from Mont Pèlerin: The making of the neoliberal thought collective (pp. 1–42). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Plehwe, D., Walpen, B., & Neunhoffer, G. (2006). Introduction: Reconsidering neoliberal hegemony. In D. Plehwe, B. Walpen, & G. Neunhoffer (Eds.), Neoliberal hegemony: A global critique (pp. 2–25). London: Routledge.
Ranson, S., Arnott, M., McKeown, P., Martin, J., & Smith, P. (2005). The participation of volunteer citizens in school governance. Educational Review, 57(3), 357–371.
Rhodes, R. A. W. (2007). Understanding governance: Tens years on. Organisation Studies, 28(8), 1243–1264.
Rose, N. (2017). Still ‘like birds on the wire’? Freedom after neoliberalism. Economy and Society, 45(3–4), 303–323.
Select Committee on Public Administration (SCPA). (2005). The case for user choice in public services. Joint memorandum from Minister of State (Health) at the Department of Health; Minister of State for Local and Regional Government; and Minister of State for School Standards. Available here https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmpubadm/49/5012002.htm.
Sharp, L., & Richardson, T. (2001). Reflections on Foucauldian discourse analysis in planning and environmental policy research. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 3(3), 193–209.
Spotton, B. (1999). Regulation and deregulation: Financial. In P. A. O’Hara (Ed.), Encyclopedia of political economy (pp. 971–974). London: Routledge.
Springer, S. (2015). Postneoliberalism. Review of Radical Political Economics, 47(1), 5–17.
Trentmann, F. (2007). Citizenship and consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 7(2), 147–158.
Wilkins, A. (2010). Citizens and/or consumers: Mutations in the construction of meanings and practices of school choice. Journal of Education Policy, 25(2), 171–189.
Wilkins, A. (2012). School choice and the commodification of education: A visual approach to school brochures and websites. Critical Social Policy. Special Issue: Inequalities and Images: Insights for Policy and Practice, 32(1), 70–87.
Wilkins, A. (2016). Modernising school governance: Corporate planning and expert handling in state education. London: Routledge.
Willms, J., & Echols, F. (1992). Alert and inert clients: The Scottish experience of parental choice of schools. Economics of Education Review, 11(4), 339–350.
Yemini, M., & Maxwell, C. (2018). Discourses of global citizenship education: The influence of the global middle-classes. In A. Peterson, G. Stahl, & H. Soong (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of citizenship and education. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Wilkins, A. (2018). Neoliberalism, Citizenship, and Education: A Policy Discourse Analysis. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_10-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_10-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education