Neoliberalism's War on Higher Education

Analogised to a prizefight (irrespective of the fact I'm definitively anti-pugilist--is not boxing, per se, redolent of cock fighting "events" in the U.S. South wherein kith and kin gather 'round, wagering-money waving in hand, watching cocks brutalise each other?), M. Giroux's volume KOs capitalism on every page, let alone paragraph. For those who enjoy criticising works they read, such-said will be sadly disappointed inasmuch as, well, what is there to criticise (save, in league with Giroux, neoliberalism's insidious war on humanity)? A mature volume, however alive with deep undertones of utter indignation, Giroux is on the mark and readily shreds the neoliberal regime/"order" with a steady, confident, and unrelenting barrage of basic human facts. Kudos, Giroux.

Dear Amazon friends, having heard the author being interviewed on RT and being involved in higher education I decided to buy this book.It is not easy reading but it is chock full of issues important to us all; so I am slowly reading it interspersed with lighter materials.I plan to buy other titles by this author in the coming weeks and months.John Barnes,Bangkok, Thailand

Giroux is brilliant at expressing complex ideas in poetic style, sort of Kerouac-meets-Chomsky-meets James Baldwin: polity, percarity, pedagogy, agency, “emancipatory trappings”, “repression and the militarization of thought itself”, “the contemporary tyranny of reason”, “ossified logic of the market and its principle of risk”, “economic management of security governance”, the “thought-crime model of social control”, “an inspired conformity”….the list goes on and on, page after riveting page as if from a stream of consciousness, or better yet, a stream of pedagogical activism and conscientious love of the social good.Giroux seamlessly connects neoliberalism with the collapse of public education and the defunding of higher education; the marginalization of labor unions, teachers, academics and intellectuals; opposition to increasing the minimum wage; the spectacle of unemployment, predatory capitalism, student loans and student debt; job out-sourcing, commodification of the environment and public spaces; privatization of social services for the poor, women, minorities, youth, the elderly and a rampant consumerism to serve as the measurement for success, profit and investment; the rise and expansion of the surveillance state, the security state, prisons and the school-to-prison pipeline; the transfer of public money into the warfare state; deregulation of finance; the elimination of public spaces and democratic spheres; disposability and accumulation of wealth by dispossession; institutionalized racism and sexism; media collusion to disinform; the implementation of severe austerity measures on the backs of the middle class; the criminalization of poverty and the war against the poor; police violence, social violence, drone assassinations, the war on terror, deregulated lobbyists and religious fundamentalism.The book is only 240 pages but it clearly demonstrates that neoliberalism – “the most dangerous ideology of our time” – like a cancer, has, ever since Ronald Reagan’s administration, replaced long-cherished principles of democracy with a new form of authoritarianism and violent spectacle. Giroux’s book is, indeed, terrifying and essential, as Bob Herbert wrote on the cover. It is an important contribution to the resistance movement struggling to reclaim democratic principles and values of equality and justice.

Opened my mind to a different way of looking at politics, and the influence of corporate America on higher education and politics in the United States.

Great product. Arrived on time

A very good book to read and I enjoyed reading this book by Mr. Giroux and I am also worried that there is very little the individual man or woman can do to stop this internal war on our country and our educational system.

Giroix underlines the social realities of contemporary higher education. Each chapter is a rehearsal for educational revolution.

Insightful and sweeping in its analysis of the destructive approach to higher education taken by business and government in many countries.

Excellent

Important for everyone to read if they value the freedom of our Unibersities.