NEGLECTING DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP IN THE NEOLIBERAL UNIVERSITY
Date
2020-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
In the wake of neoliberalism, the depreciation of democratic citizenship has become a crisis that corrupts how we interact socially. A role in the market now outweighs a role in the community, and what constitutes a citizen is becoming increasingly unclear. Neoliberalism has successfully penetrated institutions like the university where democratic citizenship may hold its most vital roots. The claim of the university being a transformative institution is now paradoxical as sameness reproduces subjects that pledge unconditional support to the omnipotence of instrumental and technological rationality. Common areas across university campuses that exist to offer an escape from such neoliberal hegemony can additionally no longer be used for democratic stimulation as corporate culture attacks areas of robust socialization. Neutral pedagogical methods utilized by the neoliberal university only further amplify this problem as students are pressured to become unenthusiastic recipients of knowledge. The ramifications of such an intrusion must be studied, as overtaking the most critical of institutions leaves neoliberalism virtually unchallenged.
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Keywords
political science,