An Imaginative and Hopeful Paradigm Shift: From Neoliberal Logics to Emergent Strategies for Social Change

• In Event: Imaginative Sociology: Disrupting Epistemic Apartheid to Transform Education and Society

Abstract

Toward the end of the 20th century American society underwent a major paradigm shift away from focusing on public goods, social responsibility, democratic decision-making, and collective well-being and instead embracing the dangerous neoliberal logics of marketization, privatization, competition, and individualism (Giroux, 2011, 2015). This shift toward neoliberalism had major implications for critical and sociological studies of education as it substantially constrained both academic freedom and research possibilities by prioritizing the funding of scholarship deemed to have “market value” (Thornton, 2009) and “policy relevance” (Apple et al., 2009; Ball, 2008).

While there are certainly scholars who have resisted such market based logics, “this shift toward neoliberal principles is so pervasive that social scientists tend to think and speak in neoliberal terms even when expressing the importance of maintaining a sociological imagination” (Rousseau, 2020, p. 395). This lack of imagination also remains pervasive within the field of education, with many scholars and practitioners still struggling to envision educational change beyond top-down, policy centric approaches based on standardized test scores and teacher evaluations (Au, 2022; Kumashiro, 2008).

A normative neoliberal focus on profit, efficiency, accountability, and policy not only limits our imaginations, but also ensures that we will continue to produce the same unjust and violent results (Green, 2016; Ritchie, 2023). Given that such logics have exacerbated inequality, dismantled public goods, and undermined our collective wellbeing, while simultaneously accelerating toward fascism, environmental, and social collapse (Ergas, 2021; Giroux, 2021; Ritchie, 2023), this paper argues that there is an urgent need for a new paradigm shift that leverages critical sociologists, radical educators, and local communities as agents of change. It also illuminates how the contemporary moment is uniquely ripe for a transformation of collective values and our material world (Green, 2016; Ritchie, 2023, Roy, 2020).

Such an imaginative paradigm shift toward transformation and liberation is grounded in knowledge not traditionally engaged within the sociology of education. It brings together scholarship on emergent strategies, complexity theories, and social change (Benjamin, 2022; brown, 2016; Green, 2016; Ritchie, 2023) with lessons learned from community organizers, movement elders, and abolitionists through their work on the ground (Boggs, 2011; Hayes & Kaba, 2023; Parker, 2020; Simpson, 2017). With a focus on collectively imagining, practicing, and building toward alternative futures, this interdisciplinary body of work offers insights and strategies for “how we grow the world we want” (Benjamin, 2022) while strengthening the libertory work that is already happening in classrooms, colleges, and communities.

An imaginative and hopeful sociology that is prepared to meet the urgent challenges of this contemporary moment not only requires us to transgress the academy (Fillingim et al., 2023), but also to question limiting assumptions that social and educational change must be enacted through market logics and public policy. As such, this paper outlines the logics that have brought us to this moment, introduces a much needed paradigm shift, and explores how work that is already happening - including the imaginative approaches presented by others in the session - can bring us closer to a safe, just, and loving world.

Author

• Cami Touloukian, Teachers College, Columbia University