The evil of authoritarian education. Banality and compliance in the neoliberal era

FORUM - ISSN 0963-8253
Volume 65 Number 1 (2023)

The evil of authoritarian education. Banality and compliance in the neoliberal era
Matthew Clarke, Charlotte Haines Lyon pages 130-139
DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.1.15

Abstract

Education is widely seen as a force for good, associated with hope and optimism about better individual and social futures. By contrast, and controversially, this paper argues that education and education policy in recent decades has been far from benign, as evidenced in the growing alienation of significant numbers of teachers and students and, crucially for our paper, in the growth of authoritarian models of schooling, involving ‘zero-tolerance’, ‘no excuses’ disciplinary approaches. Against this background, and drawing on Hannah Arendt and the work of contemporary moral philosophers Elizabeth Minnich and Simona Forti, this paper diagnoses the nature and effects of school discipline policies in the neoliberal era, and in particular practices such as isolation, as a contemporary form of banal, or everyday, evil. 

SORRY - you are not registered as being permitted online access to the full text of this article

You have the following options:

  1. If you are viewing this via an institution or academic library you can ask that your institution takes out a Subscription to this journal.
  2. If you already have a Personal Subscription please login below


    Forgotten your username / password? Click here to locate

  3. Purchase an annual Personal Subscription
    PRINT + DIGITAL personal subscription (£45 / year)
    DIGITAL personal subscription (£35 / year)
    A Personal Subscription provides immediate access not only to the single article you are seeking, but also to all past and future articles in this journal up to the expiry of your annual (calendar year) subscription.
  4. Purchase immediate access to this single article (UK£7.00) - Buy article Coming Soon

To cite this article
Matthew Clarke, Charlotte Haines Lyon (2023) The evil of authoritarian education. Banality and compliance in the neoliberal era, FORUM, 65(1), 130-139. https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.1.15

Share this