Dave Hill - Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory

This book is an expanded and partially updated version of our earlier Postmodernism in Educational Theory:Education and the Politics of Human Resistance. For this Lexington Books edition there are two completely new chapterschapter 2, Glenn Rikowskis Prelude: Marxist Educational Theory after Postmodernism, and chapter 3, Peter McLaren and Ramin Farahmandpurs Breaking Signifying Chains: A Marxist Position on Postmodernism. A number of other chapters have been substantially revised. These are Glenn Rikowski and Peter McLarens chapter 1, Introduction: Postmodernism in Educational Theory, Mike Cole and Dave Hills chapter 5, Resistance PostmodernismProgressive Politics or Rhetorical Left Posturing? and chapter 8, Marxism, Class Analysis and Postmodernism by Dave Hill, Mike Sanders and Ted Hankin.

We want to thank, in particular, Jason Hallman at Lexington Books for his interest, encouragement and advice regarding the realization of this new and expanded edition, which allows us to gain wider access to a United States and international readership. Jason has been unfailingly courteous, encouraging and enthusiastic throughout the revision and production process.

We also thank Robert Albury and Janet Holland at Tufnell Press for encouraging us, in 1998, to write the original first edition. They provided tremendous support, technical expertise and understanding in our original enterprise.

And for both editions, we thank Christie Fox of Running Heads Editorials for her insightful, expert and humorous editorial advice and work.

Things have moved very quickly since that Tufnell Press edition of Postmodernism in Educational Theory appeared in late 1999, both in terms of political events and in terms of the intellectual analysis and portrayal of those events, as well as the deepening capitalization and commodification of humanity. The pace of privatization and marketization in education has quickened, spurred on by drive of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to open the doors of all sectors of education to profit-making and the law of money (see chapter 2, and Glenn Rikowskis book The Battle in Seattle: Its Significance for Education ). However, the events in Seattle in late 1999 have given the Left in general and the educational Left new heart and confidence, with subsequent anticapitalist protests in Washington, Davos, Prague and elsewhere maintaining the spirit of Seattle. Since Seattle, radical educators have turned the spotlight on the WTOs education agenda. The cover is being blown on the relationship between the agenda of the WTO and other international capitalist organizations for education and the increasing takeovers of schools, colleges and universities by corporate capital. It is an issue we took up in our booklet, Red Chalk: On Schooling, Capitalism and Politics (itself, a substantially expanded version of our interview in the International Journal of Education Reform ). We look forward to further work from the educational Left along these lines.