Addressing the Social Deficit in the Wake of Neoliberal Reforms

2016 ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Judith A. Teichman
Keyword(s):  
Social Deficit ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Peripheral vision as anthropological critique

Focaal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (71) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cris Shore ◽  
Susanna Trnka
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Neoliberal Reform ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Anthropological Critique ◽  
Blind Spots

In the context of rapid neoliberal reform, both anthropology as a discipline and the social and cultural phenomena it studies are undergoing profound changes. In this article we develop June Nash's concept of “peripheral vision” to show how peripheries, and the politics of “peripheralization”, can illuminate processes of neoliberalization and the implications that this has for anthropological knowledge production. We argue that anthropology is uniquely situated to examine the conceptual blind spots produced by capitalism. By recasting “peripheral vision” as an analytic concept and methodological tool, we show how cultivating our ethnographic sensibilities to identify and hone in on events and processes that lie beyond our immediate field of vision can provide a useful antidote to the seductive fantasies of contemporary capitalism. In doing so, we also suggest how this approach can help counter some of the increasing strictures on knowledge production and narrowing of the research imagination that neoliberal reforms impose.

The reform of New Zealand's university system: 'after neoliberalism'

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cris Shore
Keyword(s):  
Reform Process ◽  
Corporate University ◽  
University System ◽  
Academic Identities ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Developed World

This article explores the legacy of three decades of neoliberal reforms on New Zealand's university system. By tracing the different government policies during this period, it seeks to contribute to wider debates about the trajectory of contemporary universities in an age of globalisation. Since Lyotard's influential report on The Postmodern Condition (1994), critics have frequently claimed that commercialisation and managerialism have undermined and supplanted the social mission of the university as governments throughout the developed world have sought to transform the university 'from an ideological arm of the state into a bureaucratically organised and relatively autonomous consumer-oriented corporation' (Readings 1996: 457). Against this I argue that the new model of the entrepreneurial and corporate university has not so much replaced the traditional functions and meaning of the university as added a new layer of complexity to the university's already diverse and multifaceted roles in society. Drawing on an ethnography of one university and personal observations, I explore the effects of that reform process on the culture and character of the university and, more specifically, its impact on academic identities and the everyday practices of academics and students. As in other OECD countries, New Zealand's universities are now required to deliver a bewildering plethora of government priorities and strategic economic and social objectives whilst simultaneously carrying out their traditional roles in teaching, research and scholarship. The challenge for the modern university, as reflected in the case of New Zealand, is how to negotiate these diverse and often contradictory missions.

Egypt’s Quest for Social Justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-26
Author(s):  
Rasha S. Mansour
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Welfare State

This paper examines Egypt’s shift from socialism to neo-liberalism in the wake of the economic crisis of the late 1980s and the implications of this shift for its socialist legacy. It argues that the decline of the welfare state in Egypt since 1991 has contributed to the erosion of the social contract forged in the post-independence period, which was marked by state-led development and high social mobility and a prominent role for the middle class. Neoliberal ‘reforms’ dictated by economic crisis and pressures from transnational capital as well international financial institutions led to the alienation of the middle and lower classes and the emergence of a new economic elite, whose dubious links to the ruling class has undermined the regime’s legitimacy and helped fuel the 25 January 2011 uprising.

On Conditions of Participation: The Deficits of Public Reason

Human Affairs ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Hrubec
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Public Reason ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Social Deficit ◽  
The Social

On Conditions of Participation: The Deficits of Public ReasonThe paper analyzes the conditions of civic participation that are elucidated by criticism of the deficits of public reason. The interpretation proceeds in three steps. First, the idea of public reason and discourse is analyzed, followed by an explanation of democratic deficit and of the social deficit in the second and third steps, respectively. These deficits are analyzed as an essential limit to political and social conditions of the participation of citizens. The analysis focuses thereby on the theory of public reason by one of the most influential political philosophers of the last decades, John Rawls. The paper identifies two main pitfalls in his theory: first, the deficit following from an inadequate integration of an individual into society, which, in this case, represents democratic deficit, second, the deficit linked with underrating the socio-distributive dimension of justice, which means a social deficit.

scholarly journals The advice they give: Knowledge transfer of international organisations in countries of the former Soviet Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 146801812097105
Author(s):  
Andreas Heinrich
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Healthcare Reform ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mandatory Health Insurance ◽  
Financial Need

This article tests the assumptions of the literature regarding the neoliberal agenda (‘Washington Consensus’) promoted by international organisations through knowledge transfer and about the power they supposedly have through loan conditionality to impose their will on countries in financial need. In addition, it examines ‘avant-garde measures’ of neoliberal reforms exceeding the requirements from international organisations. Looking at the social policy concepts and advice these organisations give countries in the former Soviet Union, it utilises the example of healthcare reform in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The article examines the general advice these organisations gave between 1991 and 2018 for the reorganisation and management of the countries’ healthcare systems, especially concerning the introduction of a mandatory health insurance system.

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