New Right/neoliberalism flashcards + criticisms

Neoliberalism core ideas (GIF)

• Globalisation

  • Promotion of global free trade, multinational cooperations and international market competition

• Individualisation

  • Responsibility on individuals rather than state

  • Reduction of welfare

  • Encouragement of self-sufficiency

• Free market capitalism

  • Minimal state intervention

  • Deregulation of markets

  • Privatisation of public services

Thatcher quotes re. society, socialism

"There is no such thing as society; there are individual men and women, and there are families."

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”

The NR view of education in a nutshell + solution

• State education is irresponsive and inefficient

• The ‘one size fits all’ approach causes local needs to be disregarded and means local people have no say

• Schools waste money and get poor results

  • This leads to a low standard of achievement → less qualified workforce → less prosperous economy

Solution:

• Marketise education

• Competition empowers customers, leading to greater diversity and a better ability to meet the needs of parents, pupils and employers

Chubb and Moe (1990) - consumer choice (the state)

Roles of the state in education

• Impose framework on schools, within which they have to compete

• Ensure schools transmit a shared culture (through a national curriculum, by chance?)

• Affirm the Christian national identity

Reasons for the failure of state-run education

• Hasn’t created equal opportunity

• Failed needs of disadvantaged groups

• Fails to provide pupils with the skills needed by the economy and is therefore inefficient

Chubb and Moe (1990) - consumer choice (independent schools and solutions)

Independent schools are answerable to paying customers and are therefore of a higher standard

• Low-income pupils do 5% better in independent schools than in state schools

Solution:

• Give each parent a voucher to spend on their child’s education

• These vouchers would be the main source of the school’s income, forcing them to be responsive to parental wishes

CRITICISMS of marketisation:

Gerwirtz (1995) and Ball (1994)

• Benefits M/C due to economic and cultural capital

CRITICISMS:

• Low standards are due to social inequality and inadequate funding, not state control

• The national curriculum and parent choice are contradictory

CRITICISM:

Marxist

• Education doesn’t impose a shared national culture, but that of the dominant minority ruling class

• Devalues W/C and ethnic minority groups