Education in the Age of Neoliberal Dystopia

Description

Education in the Age of Neoliberal Dystopia is a timely Marxist intervention into the history of education and the detrimental effects its neoliberalization has had in capitalist countries, which is contrasted with the educational systems in socialist countries like Cuba, China, and the former USSR. It also challenges dominant Western "Marxist" perspectives on science and education.EndorsementsEducation in the Age of Neoliberal Dystopia is a powerful examination of education at this current historical juncture where radical possibilities for alternative futures have been hijacked by the agents and agencies of neoliberal capitalism, sending a bolt into the very heart of Benjamin's Angel of History. At a time in which we are still in the process of reclaiming some edifice of knowledge, some secure construction of political agency, some necessary center, some sanctuary of closure, after being pummeled by postmodernist thinkers who took away opportunities by which to grasp the foundations of our moral obligations to one another as agents of liberation, and who turned us all into doomsday forecasters stocking up on luxury survival kits, Yanis Iqbal offers us a profound Marxist analysis of the current state of social decay. And in doing so he presents us with a critical architecture by which to contemplate a new beginning.Peter McLaren is Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, College of Educational Studies, Chapman University, where he is Co-Director of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project and International Ambassador for Global Ethics and Social Justice.With his well-researched and sociologically enriched book, Yanis Iqbal has reminded us--and that too with heightened theoretical sophistication--the devastating consequences of the neoliberal assault on education. All those who seek to recover the spirit of critical pedagogy and emancipatory education ought to read this wonderful book written by one of our finest young scholars.Avijit Pathak retired as a Professor from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, after a teaching career spanning 31 years.This book reveals how capitalist ideology distorts the proper functions of education (to enrich and enlighten the mind to enable individuals collectively to maximize their abilities and experiences) in order to perpetuate a socio-political regime based on exploitation and racism. The chapter on Soviet education as it evolved from the revolution was especially interesting in showing how the first pro-people education system was developed. Thomas Riggins, retired philosophy teacher (NYU, The New School, and others), former associate editor at Political Affairs, Chief Editorial Counselor at the Midwestern Marx Institute.A superb exposition of a creative Marxist critique of capitalist education and the futility of its western “Marxist” critics. This book will surely be a must read for anyone working in critical education studies.Carlos L. Garrido is a philosophy instructor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Director of the Midwestern Marx Institute.The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense demanded an "Education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society and that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society." Yanis Iqbal's work is a step in the direction of building this type of self-determining educational system for our class. His deep dive into how capitalism has corrupted and stolen the joy from the educational system reveals why our high-schools are more than ever drop-out factories and our curricula part of the miseducation of our youth.Danny Shaw, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Director of the Midwestern Marx Institute International Department