Social Reproduction as Language Policy: The Neoliberal Co-option of English in Global Japan

Abstract

In Japan, neoliberal discourses rationalize English language proficiency as a pathway to meritocratic reward and success in the global knowledge economy. With this ideology in mind, this review engages the market orientation of English domestically and the causative implications of class-distinguished capital. Specifically, Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction is employed to foster comprehension of Japanese foreign language policies in which English substantiates itself as a valuable source of cultural investment. Notwithstanding the supposedly meritocratic intention of the Japanese state, this study concludes that credentialism, hierarchization, and marketization function in concert with a survival of the fittest corollary that, per globalized ideological-discursive assumptions, constrains agency through the justification of ELL as a vocational and civic moral worth. This conflation of internationalization and Englishization is better understood as an instrument of dominance, with the agency to participate in ELL interlocking with an incontrovertible doxa that rationalizes the economic, social, and political hierarchy.

Neoliberalism and the violation of students’ rights: the case of English language education

“…Horiguchi et al (2015) contend that neoliberal ideologies prioritise the notion that individuals bear the responsibility of attaining crucial information and skills, such as communication or language proficiency, which are regarded as significant matters within the contemporary knowledge-based economy. Smith (2022) argues that the implementation of a market-oriented approach to English language policy can be seen as an exclusive form of repression. This approach amalgamates forceful measures and consent, utilising strategies that legitimise and sustain the prevailing social, political, economic, and linguistic norms within a given context.…”

Rolling Out the Red Carpet: A Critique of Neoliberal Motivations Orienting the Promotion of Public Bilingual Schools to Young Learners in Brazil

“…And even though the Brazilian public schooling system is the focus of this paper, the neoliberal motivations to teach English to young learners may be traced to other countries such as Nepal (Sah, 2021), Spain (Lasaosa, 2021), and Japan (Smith, 2021). In short, the English learning fever is a global phenomenon (Sayer, 2019).…”