Education and full employment in the Capitalocene: Political possibilities, ecological imperatives

Abstract

Imagine what education would look like if upon completion every graduate was guaranteed a job paying a living wage, democratically created, doing meaningful work… This is a political possibility in most countries in the world today: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) demonstrates that, provided a country has sovereignty over its currency, which most now do, it faces no nominal constraints on spending and can always choose to guarantee jobs and maintain full employment. Yet a pervasive feature of the neoliberal phase of the Capitalocene has been precisely the opposite: high and rising rates of un- and underemployment. This article examines the reasons for this trend and argues that its impact on education has been both unnecessary and detrimental. Finally, it suggests a strategy for educators to reverse this trend and the associated policy of economic growth, and, with reference to history, imagines what the effects such a reversal might have.