Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms

Glenn Rikowski

 

 

 

 

Glenn Rikowski, Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

 

My article, Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms has now been published in Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Volume 15 Number 3, December 2017, pp.29-56.

The Abstract for the article is below.

The article can be accessed at: http://www.jceps.com/archives/3620

and http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/15-3-2.pdf

 

ABSTRACT

To date research and scholarship on privatisation in education lacks critical depth and intensity. Stock concerns occupy contributions to the field: the effects of privatisation in education on teachers’ labour, pay and conditions of service; educational expenditure; resultant problems of planning at local and national levels; corruption (systemic, and by teachers); and on the curriculum and pedagogy. Additionally, many accounts have been largely descriptive, focusing on how privatisation takes place, or on threats to privatisation, or its insertion within education systems. Many case studies have been undertaken in this light, with sectoral, country-wide and local cases. There has been less emphasis on why privatisation in education occurs. Resistance to educational privatisation has been another common theme. Finally, work on educational commodification has been substantially dissociated from studies on privatisation in education. This paper builds on this last point. Writing and research on privatisation in education has largely avoided what it represents and calls forth: the development of capital, the deeper capitalisation of education. Furthermore, discussion on educational privatisation typically ignores its implication in the social production of labour-power. Therefore, with reference to Karl Marx, this contribution drives the critique of privatisation in education forward by focusing on commodity form(s) in education and their relations to the capitalisation of educational services. Consequently, the points of resistance to privatisation in education are sharpened as anti-capitalist weapons.

 

The URL for the whole issue is: http://www.jceps.com/archives/3644

The journal website is: http://www.jceps.com

 

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski

Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies – Volume 15 Number 3, December 2017

Glenn Rikowski

 

This is the latest issue of Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies. It includes my article Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms.

 

 

 

 

Volume 15 Number 3 – December 2017

 

Ravi Kumar
Consensualised Reproduction and Fascisation of Society: Critical Pedagogy in Times of Despair

 

Glenn Rikowski
Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms

 

Mike Cole
‘A bright future’ for ‘something new and highly significant’ or a bit of a damp squib?: (neo-) Marxist reflections on recent theoretical developments in ‘BritCrit’ in the journal Race, Ethnicity and Education

 

Oskar Szwabowski
Paulina Wężniejewska
An (co)autoethnography story about going against the neoliberal didactic machine

 

Sezen Bayhan
Ayşe Caner 
Schools in the Nexus of Neoliberal Urban Transformation and Education Policy Change

 

Chris Holligan
Corporate Schooling and Decorative Metrics: The Iconography of Academy School Chains in England

 

Dhammika Jayawardena 
The “MacBurger”, Non-State Universities and the Changing Landscape of Higher Education in Sri Lanka

 

Steve Hanson
Language, juridical epistemologies and power in the new UK university: Can alternative providers escape?

 

Cecilia Rikap 
The Differentiated Market-University: is commodification equally affecting all universities?

 

Joseph Cunningham
Rhetorical Tension in the Bureaucratic University

 

Fernando Murillo
Ideology, Curriculum & The Self: The psychic rootedness of ideology and resistance in subjectivity

 

Carl Parsons
Kaia-Marie A. Bishop
Book Review: Mike Cole (2016)Racism: a Critical Analysis. London: Pluto Press.

 

 

Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies: http://www.jceps.com

 

***END***

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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

 

Dave Hill

 

PRESENTATIONS @ ACADEMIA

Dr. Glenn Rikowski

PRESENTATIONS @ ACADEMIA

 

I have recently uploaded a number of Presentations and Presentation Notes to Academia.

These are as follows:

 

 

 

 

Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptions (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29675223/Crises_Commodities_and_Education_Disruptions_Eruptions_Interruptions_and_Ruptions_Presentation_

Crises in Education, Crises of Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674786/Crises_in_Education_Crises_of_Education_Presentation_

Education and Crisis (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29681835/Education_and_Crisis_Presentation_

Crisis and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674444/Crisis_and_Education_Presentation_

The Seed: Critical Educators for Social Transformation (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29718073/The_Seed_Critical_Educators_for_Social_Transformation_Presentation_

Higher Education in Crises of Capital and Labour (Presentation Notes): https://www.academia.edu/29737945/Higher_Education_in_Crises_of_Capital_and_Labour_Presentation_Notes_

Value, Labour Power and Gender Inequality in the Capitalist Labour Market (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29675727/Value_Labour_Power_and_Gender_Inequality_in_the_Capitalist_Labour_Market_Presentation_

Rethinking Higher Education: Students As Producers Against the Culture Machine (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29717220/Rethinking_Higher_Education_Students_As_Producers_Against_the_Culture_Machine_Presentation_

Capitalisation by Stealth: The Business Takeover of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29673995/Capitalisation_by_Stealth_The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Ten Points on Marx, Class and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29713518/Ten_Points_on_Marx_Class_and_Education_Presentation_

Adventures in Marxism and Education: An Autobiographical Report (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29696961/Adventures_in_Marxism_and_Education_An_Autobiographical_Report_Presentation_

The Business Takeover of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29696101/The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Karl Marx’s Social Time (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674114/Karl_Marxs_Social_Time_Presentation_

The Evolution of Federations of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29695981/The_Evolution_of_Federations_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Education Rights in Global Capitalism Today (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29695869/Education_Rights_in_Global_Capitalism_Today_Presentation_

Profits in Chains? The Capitalisation of Schools in England and the White Paper (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29694955/Profits_in_Chains_The_Capitalisation_of_Schools_in_England_and_the_White_Paper_Presentation_

Night Thoughts on the Education White Paper (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29694841/Night_Thoughts_on_the_Education_White_Paper_Presentation_

New Labour, the Knowledge Economy and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29684663/New_Labour_the_Knowledge_Economy_and_Education_Presentation_

The Business Takeover of Schools: Exploring Explanations (Presentation Notes): https://www.academia.edu/29698427/The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_Exploring_Explanations_Presentation_Notes_

 

To see the full list of Presentations and Presentation Notes, and further details, go to: https://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski/Presentations

 

To see all my postings to Academia, go to: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

 

To see my posting at ResearchGate, go to: http://www.researchgate.com/profile/GlennRikowski

 

 

6th International Conference on Critical Education – 2016: Extended Call for Papers

ICCE 6

6^th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL EDUCATION – 2016

10 – 13 August 2016

Middlesex University

London

 

Extended Call for Papers: 31^st May 2016

The Deadline for Abstracts for the upcoming 6^th ICCE Conference has been extended to the end of May.

 

Plenary  Speakers include:
Peter McLaren (Chapman University, Orange, California, USA)
Hasan Hüseyin Aksoy (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Grant Banfield (Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
Joyce Canaan (Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK)
Hana Cervinkova (University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland)
Polina Chrysochou (Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK)
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk (University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland)
Cassie Earl (Manchester Metropolitan Univesity, Manchester, UK)
Gail Edwards (Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK)
Ramin Farahmandpur (Portland State University, Portland, USA)
Derek Ford (Syracuse University, New York, USA)
Panayota Gounari (University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA)
Tom Griffiths (Newcastle University, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia)
George Grollios (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,Thessaloniki, Greece)
Dave Hill (Institute for Education Policy Studies & National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Gianna Katsampoura (National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece)
Leszek Koczanowicz (University of Sosial Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland)
Vicky Makris (University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada)
Curry Malott (West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA)
Alpesh Maisuria (University of East London, London, UK)
Lilia Monzo (Chapman University, California, USA)
Jayne Osgood (Middlesex University, London, UK)
Periklis Pavlidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece)
Leena Helavaara Robertson (Middlesex University, London, UK)
Fevziye Sayilan (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Kostas Skordoulis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece)
Juha Suoranta (University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland)
Spyros Themelis (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)
Meral Uysal (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Paolo Vittoria (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Ahmet Yildiz (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
The conference website is http://icce-2016.weebly.com/

Speakers are listed at http://icce-2016.weebly.com/program-speakers.html

Abstract Submission Form is at: http://icce-2016.weebly.com/abstract-submission.html

 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

The Extreme Centre: How the Neoliberal Project has Reshaped the World

Fat Cat Food

THE EXTREME CENTRE: HOW THE NEOLIBERAL PROJECT HAS RESHAPED THE WORLD

Tuesday, 16 February 2016, 5-7PM

Tariq Ali (writer, filmmaker and editor of New Left Review)

The Extreme Centre: How the Neoliberal Project Has Reshaped the World  

BGLT (SOAS, Brunei Gallery), Bloomsbury, London

Discussant: Dr Feyzi Ismail (SOAS)

Abstract: Since 1989, politics has become a contest to see which politicians can best serve the needs of the market. The result is always the same: a victory for the Extreme Centre. The same catastrophe has taken place in the US, Britain, Continental Europe and Australia. In this urgent and wide-ranging case for the prosecution, Tariq Ali looks at the people and the events that have informed this moment of political suicide: corruption in Westminster; the failures of the EU and NATO; the soft power of the American Empire that dominates the world stage uncontested. Despite this inertia, Ali goes in search of alternative futures, finding promise in the Bolivarian revolutions of Latin America and the edges of Europe. Emerging parties in Scotland, Greece and Spain, formed out of the 2008 crisis, as well as Corbynism in Britain, are offering new hope for democracy.

Tariq Ali has been a leading figure on the international left since the 60s, having engaged in debates against the Vietnam War with leading politicians of the time. He has written extensively on world history and politics; his works include The Obama Syndrome, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and his most recent publication, The Extreme Centre: A Warning. Described by the Observer as an ‘intellectual bomb thrower’ his contributions extend to film and theatre scripts, novels and published conversations, such as with Edward Said. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio and contributes to magazines and newspapers including The Guardian and the London Review of Books.

All welcome, no need to book. Seating is available on a first come, first served, basis so please arrive early to be sure of a seat.

On behalf of the seminar organising committee: Alfredo Saad-Filho, Feyzi Ismail, Jo Tomkinson, Carolina Alves, Lorenza Monaco and Jai Bhatia

Further details of all the seminars are available on the SOAS Development Studies Department website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/development/events/devstudseminars/

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/soas-ds-seminar-tariq-ali-on-the-extreme-centre-how-the-neoliberal-project-has-reshaped-the-world

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptions

Dr. Glenn Rikowski

CRISES, COMMODITIES AND EDUCATION: DISRUPTIONS, ERUPTIONS, INTERRUPTIONS AND RUPTIONS

 

Glenn Rikowski

This is my first writing in over a year.

It is paper prepared for the ‘Research in Critical Education Studies’ (RiCES) Seminar that I will be speaking to tomorrow in the School of Education, University of Lincoln.

It is on Academia, at: http://www.academia.edu/18511424/Crises_Commodities_and_Education_Disruptions_Eruptions_Interruptions_and_Ruptions

 

CONTENTS:

Introduction

 

PART I

 

Preliminary Investigations

Marxism, Fragility and Crisis – John Holloway

Crisis

Crisis – and Janet Roitman

 

Two Theories of Education Crisis

The Classical Theory of Education Crisis – Crises in Education

Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis

The Autogenous Theory of Education Crisis

 

 PART II

 

Social Forms, Commodities and Capitalist Education

Social Forms

Commodity Forms and Education

       

Crises in Labour Power Production

Primitive Socialisation

Crises of Labour-Power Production in Education As Crises for Capital

 

Crises in the Production of General Commodities in Education

Another Bundle of Commodities

 Crises in the Production of General Commodities in Education

 

Interlude: Four Forms of Crisis Recognition

Disruption

Eruption

Interruption

Ruption (Rupture)

Mergation

       

Crises of Labour-power Production and Education

Disruption

Eruption

Interruption

Ruption (Rupture)

 

Crises of Production of General Commodities in Education

Disruption

Eruption

Interruption

Ruption (Rupture)

 

Comparative and Relative Moments

Comparative Moments

The Relative Moment

 

Conclusion

 

References

 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Discussion on the Education White Paper for England and Extensions of the Commodification Process in Libraries and Schools

Ruth Rikowski

DISCUSSION ON THE EDUCATION WHITE PAPER FOR ENGLAND AND EXTENSIONS OF THE COMMODIFICATION PROCESS IN LIBRARIES AND SCHOOLS

This, rather long title, pertains to the only paper / article written by us (Ruth and Glenn Rikowski) jointly. It appeared in the winter 2005/06 edition of Information for Social Change, Issue 22. We were both mightily concerned with processes and policies relating to the commodification of public services at the time, with Ruth focusing on libraries and Glenn on schools in England.

Furthermore, at the time, both of us were interested in the international dimension to the commodification of public services. Specifically, we were concerned with the likely impact of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This joint interest brought us together in a practical political sense too, when we became members of Attac London in 2000 and along with others organised a conference on the commodification of state services.

Of course, these topics have gained renewed importance with the current development of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Maybe the halting of significant advances in the WTO’s GATS process since Seattle 1999 in some way precipitated this development.

It is a shame that we have not written more together, and this is something that we aim to rectify in the future.

Meanwhile, this ‘Discussion’ piece can now be found at Academia:

For Glenn, it is at: http://www.academia.edu/12010645/Discussion_on_the_Education_White_Paper_for_England_and_Extensions_of_the_Commodification_Process_in_Libraries_and_Schools

For Ruth, it is at: http://www.academia.edu/12010645/Discussion_on_the_Education_White_Paper_for_England_and_Extensions_of_the_Commodification_Process_in_Libraries_and_Schools

Glenn Rikowski’s papers and articles at Academia can be viewed at: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski’s papers and articles at Academia can be viewed at: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

 

Ruth and Glenn Rikowski

London

September 2015

Democracy Rising

ATHENS

DEMOCRACY RISING

THE GLOBAL CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES (GCAS)

GCAS World-Conference Athens “Democracy Rising” (Free and Open to the Public)

The Global Center for Advanced Studies

Announces Our First World Conference

“Democracy Rising: From Insurrections to ‘Event’”

Date: July 16-19th 2015, Athens, Greece

 

Speakers: (The Following Speakers will be Present in Athens)

Keynote:

Costas Douzinas, Jodi Dean, Bruno Bosteels & Maria Aristodemou

Speakers:

Tariq Ali, Kenneth Surin, Stathis Kouvelakis, Azfar Hussain, Paul Mason, Alex Callinicos, Maria Nikolakaki, Athena Athanasiou, Creston Davis, Athina Karatzogianni, Kostis Karpozilos, Lola Sánchez ,Giovanni Tusa, Dimitris Dalakoglou, Leonidas Vatikiotis, Claudia Landolfi, Peter Thompson, Aris Chatzistefanou II, Julie Resche, Theodore Koulouris, Sigrid Hackenberg, Srecko Horvat, Paolo Gerbaudo, Dave Hill,Stavros Stavrides and special guests from Syriza and Podemos.

 

Description:

Margaret Thatcher’s slogan, “There is no alternative” was a declaration of war that installed the horrors of neoliberal policies that have eroded and systematically undermined democratic and public-based projects for more than 30 years.  The global financial crisis of 2008 exposed these neoliberal policies that have paved the way for the rise of an untouchable oligarchical class whose top 80 members now possess more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s population. It is now abundantly clear that neoliberalism has accelerated radical inequality and at the same time forced the world to conform to their unquestionable, anti-democratic policies, lest even greater disasters befall us.

Faced with no alternative, on their terms, in 2011 a new series of insurrections began to emerge from the Occupy movement to Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, to Spain, Ireland, and Greece. The recent historic victory of Syriza brings forth the message that citizens must decide their own future and thus the reassertion of the primacy of politics takes place again in the world.

In the wake of Syriza’s victory and the hope it articulates for the world, we propose a conference comprised of academics and activists from the birthplace of democracy, Athens, Greece.  The purpose of the conference is to bring together intellectuals and activists to think through and propose strategic alternatives for democracy and its future.

 

Thematics:

• Neoliberalism and Austerity Measures
• Philosophy and Political Struggles
• The Global Debt Crisis
• Capitalism & Education
• Democracy & Activism
• European Union & the Euro-Zone
• The Rise of Fascism in Europe
• Neoliberalism and Globalization
• Uniting the Workers with the Intelligentsia
• The Hope of Left Governance
• The Rise of Podemos in Spain
• Organizing Locally & Globally
• Inequality & Democracy

 

Format:

Academics and activists are invited to give papers on relevant topics that support the conference’s description.  Papers can be presented in Athens, Greece, or in some cases, via the Internet.  In either case, papers should be no longer than 20 minutes in length.  In addition to individual papers, we encourage panel proposals consisting of 2-4 participants.  Panel sessions should be no longer than 40 minutes in length.

This conference will be hybrid in that it will be broadcasted live on the internet making it one of the first academic conferences in the world to be live and available to all.

 

Call for Papers:

250 word Abstracts for Papers, and 500 word abstracts for Panel Proposals should be submitted no later than April 1, 2015 midnight Eastern European Time to: submit@thegcas.com. Please include a photo and a very short Bio in your submission.  Please also state in the subject title of your email either “Paper” or “Panel Proposal” and whether or not your paper or panel will be presented at the conference or via the Internet.

NOTE: Panel Presentations: If your panel is being delivered via the Internet the individual members that comprise your panel can present from anywhere in the world so long as their Internet connection is excellent. You will need to verify that all Internet connections range between 6-10 Mbps so that access quality is at a premium.

You can test your Internet speed here: http://www.speedtest.net/

Acceptance/Rejection emails will be sent no later than April 15, 2015. The papers will be judged by the Conference Organization Committee.

 

Registration:

Registration is free & open to the public for participants in Athens & $5 for participants on-line (to help cover Internet infrastructure including access (purchasing a subscription), security, equipment, and technical services).

Please register as soon as possible!  REGISTER HERE

Presenters Fees are $20 per person or $40 per panel presentation

Conference Dinner $30 Athens (TBA)

Registration deadline for on-line participants is 1 July 2015.

A course will be designed and offered on this conference, details forthcoming.

 

Outcome:

The Editors of Insurrections Series at Columbia University Press have agreed to consider supporting the proceedings for publication.  Some papers will also be considered for GCAS’s Journal via GCAS Press.

Language & Translation:

Greek & English

Translation capabilities will be available if enough donations are provided to support this service. Please consider donating.  When you donate please specify “GCAS Conference”.  Donate here.

Location: TBA

 

Organizational Committee:

Creston Davis

Maria Nikolakaki

Dimitris Dalakoglou

Kostis Karpozilos

Anghelos Palioudakis

George Souvlis

Bob Drury King

Evi Zevgiti

Che Brandes-Tuka

Steven A. Panageotou

Michael D Wassell

Salim Nabi

 

Scientific Committee:

Alain Badiou, President of GCAS

Azfar Hussain, Vice-President of GCAS

Maria Nikolakaki, Prof., University of Peloponnese & GCAS

Creston Davis, Director GCAS

 

Special Activities: 

There will be special tours of Athens that follow the events of the struggles for Democracy as well as other travel opportunities.

 

Accommodations: 

All participants are responsible for their own lodging.

Media Sponsor:  InforWar Productions

 

See more:

@ GCAS Blog: https://gcasblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/gcas-world-conference-athens-free-and-open-to-the-public/

Registration: https://globalcenterforadvancedstudies.wufoo.com/forms/z154dnz71hyo08b/

ATHENS

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Revolution and Restoration

ROME

REVOLUTION AND RESTORATION

Historical Materialism Rome Conference 2015

17-18-19 September 2015, Roma Tre University

CALL FOR PAPERS

D​EADLINE: 26.03.2015

Details: https://hmrome2015.wordpress.com
​

Two hundreds years after the Vienna Congress, a new strategy of restoration has imposed itself at the core of Europe. The process of reorganization of class power, which started in the 1970s, has stabilised after the 2007-2008 crisis on the basis of austerity policies, the dismantling of workers’ rights and the welfare state , the contraction of democratic space, and punitive restrictions on the right to protest. We know the 1815 restoration was a reaction to the revolutionary conquests of 1789; can we say something analogous about this new restoration? Does this latter amount merely to a response to the attack launched by the subaltern classes in the ’60 -’70? Can we define neoliberalism, as David Harvey suggests, as the ‘restoration of class power?’.

What deserves further exploration is the extent to which neoliberal restoration has acquired the offensive and constitutive dynamic traditionally linked to the concept of ‘revolution’. The interrelation between restoration and revolution emerges, in part, from the composition, nature and unfolding of the struggles that characterize our times: urban movements claim ing a ‘right to the city’, border conflicts, migrant struggles, the constellation of Arab ‘springs’, independent and conflictual trade unionism, experiments in workers’ self-management, feminist, queer and decolonial movements, rural, indigenous and environmental struggles .

Can these new struggles contrast the neoliberal manipulation of those democratic forms that emerged from the post-war compromise between labour and capital, and between direct and representative democracy? Can new subjectivities, new rights from below, new institutions offer any foothold for detaching the idea of ‘revolution’ from its absorption by the mechanism of ‘restoration’? Within this complex and stratified framework, it is crucial to take-up the traditions of Marxist theory – from the in-depth analysis of Bonapartism by Marx and Engels to Workerism, passing through Gramsci and the reflections on the appropriation and subordination of anti-colonial movements – that have distinguished themselves by their capacity to interrogate the deep connection between revolution and restoration in the history of the capitalist social totality.

Separate calls go out for the following streams (click on titles for full CFPs):

​Marxism and Philosophy: The Italian Debate and its International Effects

New World Disorder: Crisis, Conflicts and Transformations of Class Struggles 

Powers, Organizational forms, New Institutions

​T​he Right to the City​

We welcome abstract proposals on these themes or any others, in all disciplines, from all continents and from all perspectives within Marxism.

Please send your 200 words abstracts to: hmrome2015@gmail.com

IMPORTANT: if you apply to any of the 4 strands listed above, add the title of the strand in your email subject.

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/historical-materialism-rome-conference-2015-call-for-papers

Neoliberalism

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

 

‘Time and Space in the Social Universe of Capital’ – by Michael Neary and Glenn Rikowski, now at Academia: http://www.academia.edu/10545768/Time_and_Speed_in_the_Social_Universe_of_Capital

 

Neoliberalism and the Degradation of Education

Education Not for Sale

NEOLIBERALISM AND THE DEGRADATION OF EDUCATION

Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research

VOL 26 (2015)

Edited by Carlo Fanelli and Bryan Evans

Contributors to this anthology trace how neoliberalism has impacted education. These effects range from the commercialization and quasi-privatization of pre-school to post-secondary education, to restrictions on democratic practice and research and teaching, to the casualization of labour and labour replacing technologies, and the descent of the university into the market which threatens academic freedom. The end result is a comprehensive and wide-ranging review of how neoliberalism has served to displace, if not destroy, the role of the university as a space for a broad range of perspectives.

Neoliberalism stifes the university’s ability to incubate critical ideas and engage with the larger society. Entrepreneurship, however, is pursued as an ideological carrier serving to prepare students for a life of precarity just as the university itself is being penetrated and occupied by corporations. The result is an astonishing tale of transformation, de-democratization and a narrowing of vision and purpose.

Contents: http://www.alternateroutes.ca/index.php/ar/issue/view/1590/showToc

Current Issue: http://www.alternateroutes.ca/index.php/ar/issue/view/1590

Alternative Routes: http://www.alternateroutes.ca/index.php/ar

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‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

 

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Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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Neoliberalism

PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century

Posthuman

PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century

Please see below for call for papers for a conference at in Liverpool on Wednesday 10th June 2015 organised in conjunction with the British Sociological Association Sociology of Mental Health Study Group. The conference title is PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century: Peter Sedgwick and radical movements in mental health

Background to the conference:

The work of Peter Sedgwick and in particular his classic text PsychoPolitics (1982) has a renewed relevance in the context of ‘austerity’, the privatisation of welfare provision and emergent forms of radical activism in mental health. This conference will provide an opportunity to explore Sedgwick’s ideas and assess his legacy in light of these contemporary developments.

The organisers welcome proposals for papers/workshops from academics, service users /survivors and mental health practitioners on the following topics (though this is not an exhaustive list):

• The politics of mental health
• Social movements in mental health; social movements and sociological knowledge on mental health
• Alliances between service user/survivor movements and trade unions/anti-austerity campaigns
• Alliances between disabled people’s and mental health service user/survivor movements
• Mental health practice and resistance under neoliberalism
• Contemporary applications of Sedgwick’s ideas
• Links between mad studies, disability studies and the work of Sedgwick

The conference webpages are at www.hope.ac.uk/psychopoliticsc21. The email for mailing list and further info is: sedgwickconf2015@hope.ac.uk

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-papers-psychopolitics-in-the-21st-century-conference-june-2015

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Marx, Engels and the Critique of Academic Labor – Call for Papers

Workplace

MARX, ENGELS AND THE CRITIQUE OF ACADEMIC LABOR

Call for Papers

Marx, Engels and the Critique of Academic Labor

Special Issue of Workplace: A journal for academic labor

Guest Editors: Karen Gregory & Joss Winn

Articles in Workplace have repeatedly called for increased collective organisation in opposition to a disturbing trajectory: individual autonomy is decreasing, contractual conditions are worsening, individual mental health issues are rising, and academic work is being intensified. Despite our theoretical advances and concerted practical efforts to resist these conditions, the gains of the 20th century labor movement are diminishing and the history of the university appears to be on a determinate course.

To date, this course is often spoken of in the language of “crisis.” While crisis may indeed point us toward the contemporary social experience of work and study within the university, we suggest that there is one response to the transformation of the university that has yet to be adequately explored: A thoroughgoing and reflexive critique of academic labor and its ensuing forms of value. By this, we mean a negative critique of academic labor and its role in the political economy of capitalism; one which focuses on understanding the basic character of ‘labor’ in capitalism as a historically specific social form. Beyond the framework of crisis, what productive, definite social relations are actively resituating the university and its labor within the demands, proliferations, and contradictions of capital?

We aim to produce a negative critique of academic labor that not only makes transparent these social relations, but repositions academic labor within a new conversation of possibility.

We are calling for papers that acknowledge the foundational work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels for labor theory and engage closely and critically with the critique of political economy. Marx regarded his discovery of the dual character of labor in capitalism (i.e. concrete and abstract) as one of his most important achievements and “the pivot on which a clear comprehension of political economy turns.” With this in mind, we seek contributions that employ Marx’s and Engels’ critical categories of labor, value, the commodity, capital, etc. in reflexive ways which illuminate the role and character of academic labor today and how its existing form might be, according to Marx, abolished, transcended and overcome (aufheben).

 

Contributions:

1. A variety of forms and approaches, demonstrating a close engagement with Marx’s theory and

method: Theoretical critiques, case studies, historical analyses, (auto-)ethnographies, essays, and

narratives are all welcome. Contributors from all academic disciplines are encouraged.

2. Any reasonable length will be considered. Where appropriate they should adopt a consistent style

(e.g. Chicago, Harvard, MLA, APA).

3. Will be Refereed.
4. Contributions and questions should be sent to:

Joss Winn (jwinn@lincoln.ac.uk) and Karen Gregory (kgregory@ccny.cuny.edu)

Publication timetable

• Fully referenced ABSTRACTS by 1st February 2015
• Authors notified by 1st March 2015
• Deadline for full contributions: 1st September 2015
• Authors notified of initial reviews by 1st November 2015
• Revised papers due: 10th January 2016
• Publication date: March 2016.

Possible themes that contributions may address include, but are not limited to:

The Promise of Autonomy and The Nature of Academic “Time”

The Laboring “Academic” Body

Technology and Circuits of Value Production

Managerial Labor and Productions of Surplus

Markets of Value: Debt, Data, and Student Production

The Emotional Labor of Restructuring: Alt-Ac Careers and Contingent Labor

The Labor of Solidarity and the Future of Organization

Learning to Labor: Structures of Academic Authority and Reproduction

Teaching, Learning, and the Commodity-Form

The Business of Higher Education and Fictitious Capital

The Pedagogical Labor of Anti-Racism

Production and Consumption: The Academic Labor of Students

The Division of Labor In Higher Education

Hidden Abodes of Academic Production

The Formal and Real Subsumption of the University

Alienation, Abstraction and Labor Inside the University

Gender, Race, and Academic Wages

New Geographies of Academic Labor and Academic Markets

The University, the State and Money: Forms of the Capital Relation

New Critical Historical Approaches to the Study of Academic Labor

About the Editors:

 

Karen Gregory

kgregory@ccny.cuny.edu @claudikincaid

Karen Gregory is lecturer in Sociology at the Center for Worker Education/Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the City College of New York, where she heads the CCNY City Lab. She is an ethnographer and theory-building scholar whose research focuses on the entanglement of contemporary spirituality, labor precarity, and entrepreneurialism, with an emphasis on the role of the laboring body. Karen cofounded the CUNY Digital Labor Working Group and her work has been published in Women’s Studies Quarterly, Women and Performance, The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, and Contexts.

Joss Winn

jwinn@lincoln.ac.uk @josswinn

Joss Winn is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Lincoln, UK. His research extends broadly to a critique of the political economy of higher education. Currently, his writing and teaching is focused on the history and political economy of science and technology in higher education, its affordances for and impact on academic labor, and the way by which academics can control the means of knowledge production through co-operative and ultimately post-capitalist forms of work and democracy. His article, “Writing About Academic Labor,” is published in Workplace 25, 1-15.

Details at: http://josswinn.org/2014/12/call-for-papers-marx-engels-and-the-critique-of-academic-labor/

See also: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ices/2014/11/30/cfp-marx-engels-and-the-critique-of-academic-labor-ices-criticaltheory-criticalpedagogy-frankfurtschool/

Karl Marx

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‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski