Neoliberalism as a Form of Governmentality: The School Choice Movement and the Decline of Public Education

• In Event: The New Educational Structures of Neoliberalism: Pitfalls and Possibilities of Charter Schools and Other “School Choice” Arrangements

Abstract

Reaganomics was the popular term given to the implementation of the first neoliberal policies in the United States, which were grounded on the work of the Economic Nobel Prize von Hayek and Friedman of the Chicago School of Economics, who advocated unrestricted free markets, labor deregulation, and fully opposed the policies that had created the welfare state of the previous generation. Vanished were the social protections of previous generations of workers, as neoliberalism powerfully encouraged the deregulation of labor laws and targeted labor unions and public schools as the greatest obstacles to the freedom of the market (Torres & Schugurensky, 2002, p. 432).

Grounded on Foucault’s theory of governmentality (1978, 1979), this conceptual paper examines how neoliberalism in the US has transcended the realm of economic policies to become an ideology that has changed people’s beliefs and understandings about the role of public education (Brown, 2003). This analysis pays particular attention to how neoliberalism, through the introduction of the choice movement, has dismantled traditional public schools in inner city schools and has replaced them for privately owned, but publicly funder alternative models.

The rhetoric of neoliberalism—the shifting of common sense—has been displayed in the campaign to discredit public education and labor unions. Americans have lost confidence in the revered institution of public schooling. The media (e.g. films like Waiting for Superman and The Lottery) and the major players of neoliberalism have instilled fear in the public that the demise of American economic power is imminent if schools are not fixed. School choice has been portrayed as the only solution to the crisis of American education. As a result, a series of initiatives launched by billionaires and political philanthropists, (who had been organized by the Business Roundtable since 1972 to reform public education) have given inception to several alternative models to public schools (Kumashiro, 2010, Ravitch, 2010). Among them are the small school movement led by the Gates Foundation, charter schools owned by CMOs and for profit businesses, KIPP schools founded by former TFA corps members, and reconstituted public schools promoted by Arnie Duncan, first in Chicago, and now prescribed all over the nation.

This conceptual study utilized critical policy analysis to examine the discourse and discoursive relations that have contributed to the dismantling of public education and the proliferation of alternative schools. This theoretical research included analysis of policy documents, US officers’ speeches, newspaper articles, media, professional organization statements, and examination of discourses, institutional practices, and everyday performances that have shaped the neoliberal takeover of education. Critical policy analysis has evolved from the field of critical discourse analysis (Luke, 1995-1996) and it is centered on the application of discourse theories to policy studies (Taylor, 1997).

Author

• Marta P. Baltodano, Loyola Marymount University