Postdigital Marxism and education

Ford, Derek R.; Jandrić, Petar

doi:10.1080/00131857.2021.1930530

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This has inspired the emergence of a new concept—‘the postdigital’” (p. 893). The postdigital “gives rise to the “postdigital subject,” one that is enmeshed in and extended through digital technologies” ( Ford and Jandric, 2021 : p. 3.).…”

Section: “No Mere Means”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational futures after COVID-19: Big tech and pandemic profiteering versus education for democracy

Norris

2022

Policy Futures in Education

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To address the dramatic economic contraction brought on by the global pandemic, governments at all levels have taken on tremendous debt in order to provide economic stability and prevent a more dramatic collapse. It is likely that, as the initial phase of the pandemic passes, familiar neoliberal austerity claims about the necessity to trim education budgets will gain greater force and acceptance. However, I suggest that these neoliberal policies demand sacrifices of the wrong constituency: Given that Big Tech has amassed huge sums of money over the course of the pandemic, how is it morally justifiable that tech companies benefit from the pandemic while educational institutions shoulder the financial fallout of pandemic government spending? In this paper, I first outline how Big Tech profits from the education sector during the pandemic even as it undermines the democratic function of education in doing so. I then situate these more specific critiques within a broader consideration of the role technology plays in undermining a democratic society. In conclusion, I argue that a pandemic profiteering tax for Big Tech represents the best short-term solution to get ahead of the “austerity curve” and ensure that the COVID-19 crisis serves as an opportunity to deepen our commitments to promoting the democratic function education. Without such commitments, the pandemic will become the turning point at which Big Tech effectively coopts public education for its own ends, to the detriment of democracy. My underlying claim is that technology is in conflict with both democracy and education. This runs against the widespread notion that technology will help promote learning, and that technology helps inform and connect people and therefore helps promote democracy. In what follows I dispel such notions.

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Section: “No Mere Means”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational futures after COVID-19: Big tech and pandemic profiteering versus education for democracy

Norris

2022

Policy Futures in Education

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“…Digital technology is integral to a political economy in which profit is earned by the way individuals make use of the tools to organise their work, relate to others, and carry out their everyday activities (Ford and Jandrić 2021;Knox 2019;Srnicek 2017;Zuboff 2022). Higher education is in the middle of this development, where it deals with competing discourses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooming in on Dewey, Democracy, and Subjectivity in Postdigital Education

Berg

2023

Postdigit Sci Educ

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Digital tools, such as video conference technology, are currently transforming people’s behaviour, social relations, and learning processes in higher education. But the digital tools used in teaching and learning are also part of a dynamic capitalism. This article focuses on democracy and subjectivity in higher education and outlines a critical approach in this context. I revisit John Dewey’s philosophy to reflect on digital tools and the goals of education in a democratic society. Published more than a century ago, Dewey’s seminal book Democracy and Education is relevant as a constructive approach to combining learning, experience, habits, and tools. Dewey argued that dualisms between mind and matter, knowledge and nature, undermine a democratic society. For Dewey, a society would require communication and the sharing of experiences whilst education would require democratic aims beyond the individual. Yet the contemporary challenges include a ‘digital gaze’ where the technology makes subjects more visible and observed. Foucault’s analytics of power thus becomes a constructive supplement to Dewey’s focus on participation and modes of inquiry to fully examine subjectivity and democracy in postdigital higher education.

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Malfunctioning Right in Our Backyards OR The Strangeness of Ecological Awareness

Bazzul

Triggs

2022

Postdigital Science and Education

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Postdigital Marxism and education

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Educational futures after COVID-19: Big tech and pandemic profiteering versus education for democracy

Educational futures after COVID-19: Big tech and pandemic profiteering versus education for democracy

Zooming in on Dewey, Democracy, and Subjectivity in Postdigital Education

Malfunctioning Right in Our Backyards OR The Strangeness of Ecological Awareness

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