In this paper I will take the claims put forth by Henry Giroux in his recent interview regarding the increasingly negative effects of neoliberalism, and as he calls it casino capitalism, across the world, particularly in the realm of education, and juxtapose them with various Marxist theories, displaying how the latter can be accurately applied in a thorough analysis of the former. More specifically, I will demonstrate how Marx’s theories dealing with Domination, Alienation, and Historical Materialism aptly tie to Giroux’s assertions.
Giroux claims that the contemporary education system discourages the notion of true learning and critical thinking, and is instead a mere avenue that trains one for the inevitable workplace. I believe that
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Capitalists realize the threat critical thinkers pose to their position, while at the same time recognize the ability of job-training based people to fuel their notion of an ideal society, and to ensure continued power, they use their vast control over educational institutions and the market to create conditions where job-training based education is favored over critical thinking enhancing education. The creation of such conditions has led to the emergence of dissimulation and a false consciousness , where people are deceived into taking as natural something that has in fact merely been created by other people: they truly believe they know what is best for them but this belief arises from an incomplete knowledge of the conditions shaping the world that surrounds them. I feel that it is this very illusory nature of capitalism that ensures its survival. Capitalism requires that a majority of the people will fail per se, so that there can be any success at all: a very real consequence from which the educational system fails to escape. A valid refutation of this argument can be that, although the logic of it is sound, it is still fundamentally based upon the assumption that people inclined towards the social sciences are inherently more inclined to pose a threat to the capitalist society. One may argue that anyone, regardless of their skill set, may or may not pose a disruption in
The soundbite criticisms of capitalism are legion, yet it’s harder to offer alternatives, aside from the vague notion of 'something else'. Despite the carnage of trying to socially engineer equality in the 20th century, nevertheless the myth persists that capitalist wealth creation is superfluous and money is readily available to a small number of elitists called a government under common ownership, who distribute, or simply print more paper. Ironically, the ones shouting the loudest against capitalism are often those dependent on the profits of capitalism to provide the welfare payments needed to keep them alive.
Contemporary economics are best explained by comparing two foundational thinkers that have contributed to the better understanding of liberalism, one being its proponent Adam Smith and the other being its most significant critic, Karl Marx. Both thinkers are profoundly important in locating and investigating the roots of neoliberalism as well as exploring alternatives ways to challenge neoliberal economics in the face of its post-cold war expansion as the inevitable and only alternative to redistribution and economic justice. This essay traces the emerging ideas of classical liberalism as articulated by Smith and their subsequent deployment in the debates that produced neoliberalism. In this context, Marx and Marxism are utilized to expose and deconstruct the shortcomings of both liberalism and neoliberalism and their limits in providing solutions to the structural symptoms of liberal and neoliberal capitalism.
In 1989-1995, my father took a job as a manager of the newspaper Marin Independent Journal company called Gannett. His job required him to have bouts of experience and to be able to solve problems quickly. When a carrier didn’t show up, he needed to quickly come up with a solution to get the mail out. Another problem he faced was how some people’s mail were stolen. His own experience with these issues and critical thinking is what helped him become manager for almost four years. In her article, “Bosses Seek ‘Critical Thinking’, but what is that”, Melissa Korn claims that qualities like critical thinking and problem solving are major assets that young workers may lack. As she explains, critical thinking is something that is hard to describe and can have many different ways of wording it. That, in turn makes it difficult for employers to set this bar. Korn continues to give multiple types of definitions of critical thinking to show exactly how the definitions can differ. She then adds that an incorporation has their candidates work through company assessments to see how they reach their conclusions. This lets them see if their workers are qualified. Korn then proceeds to bring Jerry Houser’s opinion on how schools are encouraging students to focus too much on their social lives. Upon reading Korn’s article, i’ve found that although many parts are agreeable, such as when she talks about how difficult it is to actually describe and prescribe critical thinking, other parts like
This article focused on the constant debate concerning the conditions in which students develop the skill of thinking critically. Being able to use critical thinking requires knowledge of facts and concepts about the subject matter. I found this article interesting because I think it is important that students develop critical thinking skills. Most scholarly articles tend to have an abstract that summarizes the papers entirety. Due to this this article is considered scholarly.
As mentioned in Item A, Marxists take a critical view of the role of education. They see society as based on class divisions and capitalist exploitations. The capitalist society is a two class system as mentioned in Item A and it consists of a ruling class, the bourgeoisie and the working class, the proletariat. The bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat according to Marxists and they believe that the education system only serves the needs and interests of the ruling class, as mentioned in Item A. Marxists also education as functioning to prevent revolution and maintain capitalism.
In the article, Colleges and Employers Point Fingers Over Skills Gap, Selingo informs his readers that most employers want future workers with adaptability (Selingo, 2012). Many students will graduate high school and attend college because they are told that a college degree is the only way to get a good job. The problem with this is that many students fail to improve their critical-thinking skills in the first two years (Selingo, 2012). Even though it is said that most employers want future workers with
For example, it shapes the nature of religion, law, education, the state and so on. According to Marx, capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction. For example, by polarising the classes, bringing the proletariat together in ever-increasing numbers, and driving down their wages, capitalism creates the conditions under which the working class can develop a consciousness (or awareness) of its own economic and political interests in opposition to those of its exploiters. As a result, the proletariat moves from merely being a class-in-itself (whose members share the same economic position) to becoming a class-foritself, whose members are class conscious – aware of the need to overthrow capitalism. The means of production would then be put in the hands of the state and run in the interests of everyone, not just of the bourgeoisie. A new type of society – socialism developing into communism – would be created, which would be without exploitation, without classes and without class conflict. Marx’s work has been subjected to a number of criticisms. First, Marx’s predictions have not come true. Far from society becoming polarised and the working class becoming poorer, almost everyone in western societies enjoys a far higher standard of living than ever before. The collapse of so-called ‘communist’ regimes like the former Soviet Union, and growing private ownership and capitalist growth in China, cast some doubt on the viability of the practical implementation
In Capital, Karl Marx reveals the ugly truth that capitalism lays on the foundation of class exploitation. Without such exploitation, there is no profit to be made and capitalism will cease to exist. Capitalism, which relies on the reproduction of capital, creates and concentrates wealth to a small portion of society’s population while reproducing poverty and widening the size of inequality.
“…critical thinking is not a method to be learned, but rather a process, an orientation of
Due to the rise of robotics and automation, capitalism isn’t sustainable. Automation will result in approximately 5.1 million jobs lost in the world's top 15 economies in the next five years.(Hirschler) Many renowned intellectual minds have agreed that capitalism is the immediate threat to our stable society, due to this society revolving around capitalism. Albert Einstein wrote an article titled, “Why Socialism?” in 1949 and, more recently, Stephen Hawking has decided that the most impending threat in our society is capitalism. Social democratic movements such as “Occupy Wall-Street” and Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign seem to be the future, but they are equivalent to putting a Disney Princess Band-aid on a decapitation victim. The problem is not in the flaws of capitalism; capitalism in and of itself is a
In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.
Marxists see the capitalist society as being ruled by the economy. The bourgeoisie rule the majority of the country’s wealth and the power to rule. The proletariat are exploited because they payed fairly. This is the foundation of class inequality. One of the most published conflict models is the model proposed by Bowles and Gintis in Schooling in Capitalist America (1976). Bowles and Gintis, like functionalists, see education has a vital link to the economy. But, unlike the functionalists, it is the requirements of industrial capitalism. Bowles and Gintis argue that education operates within the ‘long shadow of work’, which is the education system regulates the organisation of workers for the ideal workforce of a capitalist society (Giddens,
There is deep substance and many common themes that arose throughout Marx’s career as a philosopher and political thinker. A common expressed notion throughout his and Fredrick Engels work consists of contempt for the industrial capitalist society that was growing around him during the industrial revolution. Capitalism according to Marx is a “social system with inherent exploitation and injustice”. (Pappenheim, p. 81) It is a social system, which intrinsically hinders all of its participants and specifically debilitates the working class. Though some within the capitalist system may benefit with greater monetary gain and general acquisition of wealth, the structure of the system is bound to alienate all its
The specialised critique of capitalism found in the Communist Manifesto (written by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels), provides a basis for the analysis and critique of the capitalist system. Marx and Engels wrote about economical in relation to the means or mode of production, ideology, alienation and most fundamentally, class relations (particularly between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat). Collectively, these two men created the theory of Marxism. There are multiple critiques of Marxism that attack the fundamental tenants of their argument. Several historical events have fueled such criticisms, such as the fall of the Soviet Union, where Marxism was significantly invalidated and condemned. On the flip side, Marxism has been widely supported in times of capitalist hardships. What viewpoint a person will hold towards Marxism is largely dependable on the economical environment in which they live. Further, it is also important to remember that Marx and Engels lived in a very different era than today’s society, and the concept of capitalism may have arguably changed quite a lot over time. Therefore, the principles found in the Manifesto may often have to be refurnished and reapplied to fit different economic environments.
Marx conceived the base and superstructure approach that defines capitalist society. The base relates to all that is a function of production in society and conversely, the superstructure, which can be said to be derived from the base, relates to the values, culture, ideology and the governing bodies of society. The former creates and supports the latter by a process of legitimisation of the economic activities, and in turn, the superstructure ensures the processes remain in place. Class domination plays a large part in this process of organisation; for example, private education providing better opportunities for advancement and primary socialisation into the higher echelons of society. However, a counter argument claims that the state is just as involved in the stresses and “struggles of civil society’’ as opposed to being a mere extension of it for the pure benefit of a particular class interest (Held 2001, in Hall and Gieben 2001, p 113).