Neoliberalism’s War against Higher Education and the Role of Public Intellectuals

Abstract

Under the rein of neoliberalism, economic and political decisions are removed from social costs and the flight of critical thought and social responsibility is further undermined by both the suppression of dissent, an assault on higher education as a democratic public sphere, and an ongoing attempt to suppress the work of educators whose work strives to connect scholarship to important social issues and develop forms critical education whose aim is to translate private troubles into public concerns while promoting what Paulo Freire once education as the practice of freedom. This article examines the related questions of what kind of education is needed for students to be informed and active citizens in a world that increasingly ignores their needs, if not their future, and what role might educators play in this project as public intellectuals. The article argues that it is time for educators to develop a political language in which civic values and social responsibility—and the institutions, tactics, and long-term commitments that support them—become central to invigorating and fortifying a new era of civic engagement, a renewed sense of social agency, and an impassioned international social movement with the vision, organization, and set of strategies capable of challenging the neoliberal nightmare that now haunts the globe and empties out the meaning of politics and democracy.