Abstract:
In this analysis, I examine the relationship between the alienation inherent to capitalism, its worsening effects through neoliberalism, and the ways it normalizes estrangement as an ontic premise that must be replicated, even in education. I begin with a description of Marx’s (1967, 1973) analysis of capital as an alienating force and then employ Heidegger’s (1996) tripartite rendering of care to illuminate the thrown projection of alienation, the difficulties with the scope for concern in a globalized world, and the problem of economic power in the built environment. I discuss the educational and existential implications of transcendental debt as a form of capitalist alienation through the lens of thrown projection, the phenomenological impact of the neoliberal iteration of capitalism, and how the built environment furthers alienation by disrupting the ready-to-hand. Taking each frame of analysis as a launching point, I conclude the paper with an exploration of what might be done to disrupt capitalism in education through a pedagogy for respite. First, in response to the thrown conditions of transcendental indebtedness, a pedagogy for respite would explicitly reject employment-based rhetoric as the purpose of education. Second, in opposition to the tendency to organize education in line with labour, this pedagogy would emphasize alternative conceptions of how to labour and spend one’s time well, including through the arts, environmental pursuits, and activities aimed at togetherness, beauty, and justice. Second, against the seduction of a smooth neoliberal idle talk, a pedagogy for respite can furnish opportunities—in the real world and together—to critique the taken-for-granted notions of individualism and meritocracy by engaging in the study of systems of exploitation and oppression, including those in both real and virtual worlds (perhaps including how youth participation in social media constitutes free labour). Finally, in critique of the pursuit of growth at any cost or scale, the development of an explicitly sustainable and local curriculum is needed, which emphasizes degrowth as a principle for good and just collective life. This might include an anti-capitalist education that foregrounds eco-socialist approaches that emphasize sustainability, such as the 15-minute city, policies for degrowth, and alternatives to markets as means for organizing human activity and meeting human needs.
References
Heidegger, M. (1996). Being and time: A translation of Sein und Zeit. SUNY.
Marx, K. (1967). Capital: A critique of political economy, Vol. 1. Progress.
Marx, K. (1973). Grundrisse: Foundations of the critique of political economy (Rough draft). Penguin.
References
Heidegger, M. (1996). Being and time: A translation of Sein und Zeit. SUNY.
Marx, K. (1967). Capital: A critique of political economy, Vol. 1. Progress.
Marx, K. (1973). Grundrisse: Foundations of the critique of political economy (Rough draft). Penguin.