New Capitalism, Risk, and Subjectification in an Early Childhood Classroom

Abstract

'New capitalism' has been characterized as an economic period in which insecurity, flux, and uncertainty exist in the workplace. Capitalism attempts to tame that uncertainty through risk taking. Taking risks has become what one must do with risk. Economic discourses of embracing riskthoroughly grounded in the ideologies of neoliberalism -are widely distributed into many noneconomic areas, including education. Risk taking is now understood as something everyone should valorize, a necessity for freedom and choice. Such discourses are appropriated and recontextualized into different domains, including the everyday interactions between young children and teachers. In this study the authors examine the discourse of a writing lesson taught by one early childhood teacher, focusing on how she used language to promote/produce her students as risk-takers. The authors argue that this teacher's attempt to promote/produce risk-takers belied her commitment to neoliberal ideologies and new modes of capitalism. They also argue that her efforts were dampened by tensions that she also seemed to embody/live -tensions between old and new forms of capitalism, between modernist and postmodernist notions of agency, between safety and risk, and between freedom and control. The outcomes of her work thus seemed to embody tensions in how her students came to understand choice, risk, and freedom.It is no coincidence that free-market economies, which encourage personal risk taking, have outlived centrally planned ones, which do not. (The Economist, 1994) Steve: A person who takes risks -what kind of person do you think that person is? Jackie (age 10): A good person.

Preschool or Prep School? Rethinking the Role of Early Years Education

“…A rapid review of the extant literature over the past two decades indicates that many countries share similar issues relating to the changing role of preschool education, contributing to a burgeoning body of research and scholarship around the area. Literature from the UK, Hong Kong, Australia and the USA have raised common concerns about the increasing formalisation of preschool education, and the dominance of a socio-economic, neoliberal discourse which has influenced the way early years education and education in general is shaped (Bialostok & Kamberelis, 2010;Dockett, 2010). In the USA for instance, academics have long debated and questioned the market-based principles that govern early childhood education and care where curricular developments since the 1980s have led to a growing emphasis on children's performance and achievement tests (Genishi, 1992;Genishi & Goodwin, 2008;Brown, 2009;Bialostok & Kamberelis, 2010;Soto & Tuinhof De Moed, 2011;Genishi & Dyson, 2012).…”

“…Literature from the UK, Hong Kong, Australia and the USA have raised common concerns about the increasing formalisation of preschool education, and the dominance of a socio-economic, neoliberal discourse which has influenced the way early years education and education in general is shaped (Bialostok & Kamberelis, 2010;Dockett, 2010). In the USA for instance, academics have long debated and questioned the market-based principles that govern early childhood education and care where curricular developments since the 1980s have led to a growing emphasis on children's performance and achievement tests (Genishi, 1992;Genishi & Goodwin, 2008;Brown, 2009;Bialostok & Kamberelis, 2010;Soto & Tuinhof De Moed, 2011;Genishi & Dyson, 2012). In Australia, academics have critically examined policy reforms in the early childhood sector being driven by an economic and 'social investment' agenda, with emerging tensions around the differing demands on practitioners and the impact of this on early years services and children's learning (Ebbeck, 2003;Dockett, 2010;Irvine & Farrell, 2013).…”

“Do Some Wondering”: Children and their Self‐Understanding Selves in Early Elementary Classrooms

“…Capitalist ideology helps to shape schooling via daily routines, curricular content, and the organization of spatial, temporal, and social relations (e.g., Apple ; Bialostok and Kamberelis ; Bialostok and Kamberelis ; Bowles and Gintis ; Sadovnik and Coughlin ). Pedagogical models of the twentieth century tended to reinforce social hierarchies—working‐class children learned knowledge and skills requiring rote procedures and obedience, middle‐class children learned managerial skills such as critical thinking and problem solving (Anyon ).…”

Risk theory and education: Policy and practice

“…As an ideological project, neoliberalism redefines what it means to teach and learn, and participate in schooling. Olssen and Peters (2011: 42) write, “The traditional professional culture of open intellectual enquiry and debate has been replaced with an institutional stress on performativity, as evidenced by the emergence of an emphasis on measured outputs.” Neoliberal mentalities have linked even progressive education so that risk taking is not only a pedagogical tool, but also a highly charged test of character (Bialostok, 2012; Bialostok and Kamberelis, 2010, 2012). Carter (2009: 230) makes a similar claim:There is no doubt that many of us would believe our promotion of learner-centered pedagogies as a best practice within the humanist and progressive tradition of education rather than as culturally insensitive fodder for the global knowledge economy.…”