Apolitical Blog

Before the diagnosis starts, I want to make sure all readers understand some terms I will use throughout the piece.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fordism vs. Post-Fordism      Throughout this piece I will mention the terms “Fordist” and “post-Fordist” as pre-labels to capitalism. Before the paper continues, I want to explain what these terms necessarily mean, and the difference between the two ways of capitalist production. Fordist capitalism is characterized by classic industrial work. Filled with assembly lines, the production of material goods, and clear work-boss factory hierarchy, Fordist-capitalism is what the average young teenager still thinks of when they hear “work.” A spot on the production line, doing your specific boring job, and being at the will of your factory boss.  According to Marxist economist Christian Marazzi, the switch from Fordism to post-Fordism happened on a very specif...

What has the marketization of education done to students and teachers in post-fordist capitalism? Quite simply, this marketization of education has seeked to quantify the unquantifiable. In the name of neoliberal rhetoric about destroying top down bureaucracy and centralized control, neoliberalist capitalism has reproduced these very things, causing actors within the educational structures to end up serving entities of quantification like 'aims and objectives', 'outcomes', and 'mission statements' in the name of the market. These entities of quantification have become entities of power that teachers must serve to prove to the management class that their programs are successful and are worthy of funding, serving the very market forces that the marketization of education necessitates even when an action like “teaching” fundamentally cannot be marketed or sold. This is an inner-antagonism of marketized education that causes students and teachers to end up serving t...