Marx's Sausage Factory and Marx's Road: Education and the General Class of Commodities

Marx's Sausage Factory and Marx's Road: Education and the General Class of Commodities

This is a paper I have prepared for the London Historical Materialism 22^nd Annual Conference, SOAS, 6–9 November 2025.

You can now view this paper at Academia:  

https://www.academia.edu/144648586/Marxs_Sausage_Factory_and_Marxs_Road_Education_and_the_General_Class_of_Commodities

 

Abstract

This paper complements the presentation I gave at HM London Conference 2024 where the focus was on labour-power and its social re/production. Labour-power is the unique commodity, the ‘class of one’; the only commodity that has the capacity to generate more value – surplus-value – than what it takes to reproduce itself when it is transformed into labour in capitalist labour processes. For this 2025 presentation, the focus is on the general class of commodities; that is, all commodities excluding labour-power. In particular, educational commodification and value production in educational institutions are explored. Can education be a commodity? Is education productive of value? If education is a commodity why does it matter? These perennial questions regarding educational commodification, questions that bedevil mainstream sociology and liberal thought as much as Marxist educational theory, are at the centre of this presentation. The first section of the paper lays the ground by drawing from Marx’s ideas on the commodity and value production. It also presents some of the hand-wringing statements and nebulous arguments regarding whether education can be a commodity, or not. Section two visits Marx’s metaphor of education as a ‘sausage factory’ in Capital. It indicates how, under certain conditions, what goes on in educational institutions results in commodity and value-production. The third section focuses on ‘Marx’s road’; his discussion on the roles of State, Money and ‘capital as capital’ in the production of value in Notebook V from the Grundrisse. The conclusions from this section are then dragged back to the ‘sausage factory’ to give a fuller account of educational commodification and value production. The Conclusion revisits questions of whether education is, or can be, a commodity, if it produces value, and why such questions are important. This last point draws on the work of Mike Neary.    

Glenn Rikowski, Forest Gate, London, 27^th October 2025

Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski  

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski

Marx's Sausage Factory and Marx's Road: Education and the General Class of Commodities

Marx's Sausage Factory and Marx's Road: Education and the General Class of Commodities

This is a paper I have prepared for the London Historical Materialism 22^nd Annual Conference, SOAS, 6–9 November 2025.

 

You can now view this paper at ResearchGate, at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/396921162_Marx's_Sausage_Factory_and_Marx's_Road_Education_and_the_General_Class_of_Commodities   

 

Abstract

This paper complements the presentation I gave at HM London Conference 2024 where the focus was on labour-power and its social re/production. Labour-power is the unique commodity, the ‘class of one’; the only commodity that has the capacity to generate more value – surplus-value – than what it takes to reproduce itself when it is transformed into labour in capitalist labour processes. For this 2025 presentation, the focus is on the general class of commodities; that is, all commodities excluding labour-power. In particular, educational commodification and value production in educational institutions are explored. Can education be a commodity? Is education productive of value? If education is a commodity why does it matter? These perennial questions regarding educational commodification, questions that bedevil mainstream sociology and liberal thought as much as Marxist educational theory, are at the centre of this presentation. The first section of the paper lays the ground by drawing from Marx’s ideas on the commodity and value production. It also presents some of the hand-wringing statements and nebulous arguments regarding whether education can be a commodity, or not. Section two visits Marx’s metaphor of education as a ‘sausage factory’ in Capital. It indicates how, under certain conditions, what goes on in educational institutions results in commodity and value-production. The third section focuses on ‘Marx’s road’; his discussion on the roles of State, Money and ‘capital as capital’ in the production of value in Notebook V from the Grundrisse. The conclusions from this section are then dragged back to the ‘sausage factory’ to give a fuller account of educational commodification and value production. The Conclusion revisits questions of whether education is, or can be, a commodity, if it produces value, and why such questions are important. This last point draws on the work of Mike Neary.    

Glenn Rikowski, Forest Gate, London, 27^th October 2025

Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski  

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski

Value Vortex Weavings: Karl Marx's Social Time, Labour-Power and Education

 

Mike Neary

This is my chapter in Stammering as Dada: Mike Neary and Critical Education, edited by Stephen Cowden, Gary Saunders and Joss Winn (2025, Peter Lang):

Rikowski, G. (2025) Value Vortex Weavings: Karl Marx’s Social Time, Labour-Power and Education, in: S. Cowden, G. Saunders and J. Winn (eds.) Stammering as Dada: Mike Neary and Critical Education, pp.263-282. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Abstract (for this chapter):

In 1993, Time, Labor and Social Domination: A reinterpretation of Marx’s critical theory, by Moishe Postone was published. In 1996, I purchased a paperback version. After alerting Mike Neary to Postone’s book, for the next eight years, at particular moments, Mike and I discussed salient issues within it: e.g. value, labour, abstract labour, and Postone’s critique of traditional Marxism – but most of all, we discussed Postone’s views on time. The autobiographical Introduction provides the context for the focus on Marx’s socially necessary labour-time. Part 1 explores Mike’s conception of the Value Vortex, referred to in Neary (2020a). Part 2 examines the notion of weaving and its relation to the Value Vortex and social form. This brings into play Mike’s appreciation of the works of Lucretius and Thomas Nail in the last five years of his life. Part 3 reveals Karl Marx’s social time; what appears as capital’s time based on Marx’s concept of socially necessary labour-time (SNLT). Part 4 examines some implications of labour-power production in education as a machine for speeding up social time. The Conclusion draws ideas from the previous sections together and invokes Mike’s commitment to unravelling value and capital’s social time through critique and practice.       

Summary of the book (from the publishers):

Mike Neary was a renowned critical educator, Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln, and a founding member of the Social Science Centre, Lincoln. He died in January 2023, and in the months prior to his death, the editors of this book met with Mike and, with his guidance, worked with him on a collection of his writings. Mike was once asked why he wrote and he responded, “I write for the future” This book gathers some of his key writings to keep alive the critical legacy which Mike’s life and work embodied. It contains a body of work written by Mike on his own, with his close collaborators, as well as contributions written about him. The work gathered here in this book attests to Mike’s lifelong critical engagement with the work of Karl Marx, and as his work shows, this is an engagement on terms which are uniquely his own, reflecting Mike’s unique vision, his deep egalitarianism, his personal warmth, and his critical intellect.

Contents

Series Editors’ Preface – Stammering as Dada: Mike Neary and Critical Education

Jones Erwin and Stephen Cowden

 

Mike Neary interviewed by Stephen Cowden: The Thinginess of Things

Mike Neary and Stephen Cowden

 

An Introduction to the Work of Karl Marx: Science of Revolution and Revolutionary Science

Mike Neary

 

Critical Theory as the Critique of Labour

Mike Neary

 

Pedagogy in Paradise: Higher Learning and the Metamorphosis of a Derelict City – a Rhythmanalysis

Mike Neary

 

 

Student as Producer and the Politics of Abolition: Making a New Form of Dissident Institution?

Mike Neary and Gary Saunders

 

Pedagogy of Hate

Mike Neary

 

The Social Science Centre, Lincoln: The Theory and Practice of a Radical Idea

Mike Neary and Joss Winn

 

Beyond Public and Private: A Framework for Co- operative Higher Education

Mike Neary and Joss Winn

 

Civic University or University of the Earth? A Call for Intellectual Insurgency

Mike Neary

 

We Stammer (To Be Read Aloud)

Mike Neary

 

‘Student as Producer’: A Disruptive Theory for Our Times

Cath Lambert

 

Value Vortex Weavings: Karl Marx’s Social Time, Labour-Power and Education

Glenn Rikowski

 

Afterword: Mike Neary and the Power of Revolutionary Optimism

Antonia Darder and Gordon Asher

Details

Stammering as Dada: Mike Neary and Critical Education

Edited by Stephen Cowden, Joss Winn and Gary Saunders

Peter Lang (publishers): https://www.peterlang.com/document/1493241

Series: New Disciplinary Perspectives on Education, Volume 9

Pages                          XII, 302

Publication Year        2025

ISBN (PDF)                 9781803741161

ISBN (ePUB)              9781803741178

ISBN (Softcover)       9781803741154

DOI                        10.3726/b20611

Language                   English

Keywords                   Critical Pedagogy, Marxism, Education

   

Stammering as Dada: Mike Neary and Critical Education

 STAMMERING AS DADA

MIKE NEARY AND CRITICAL EDUCATION

STAMMERING AS DADA: MIKE NEARY AND CRITICAL EDUCATION.

Edited by Stephen Cowden, Joss Winn, and Gary Saunders.

Published by Peter Lang, in the 'New Disciplinary Perspectives on Education' Series, Volume 9.

This book will be available from 11 December 2024.

From the Peter Lang (publishers): https://www.peterlang.com/document/1493241

Available also from Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and !ndigo.

Publisher's Summary:

Mike Neary was a renowned critical educator, Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln, and a founding member of the Social Science Centre, Lincoln. He died in January 2023, and in the months prior to his death, the editors of this book met with Mike and, with his guidance, worked with him on a collection of his writings. Mike was once asked why he wrote and he responded, “I write for the future” This book gathers some of his key writings to keep alive the critical legacy which Mike’s life and work embodied. It contains a body of work written by Mike on his own, with his close collaborators, as well as contributions written about him. The work gathered here in this book attests to Mike’s lifelong critical engagement with the work of Karl Marx, and as his work shows, this is an engagement on terms which are uniquely his own, reflecting Mike’s unique vision, his deep egalitarianism, his personal warmth, and his critical intellect.

My chapter is: "Value Vortex Weavings: Karl Marx's Social Time, Labour-Power and Education".

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Academia: https://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski

Some Thoughts on Science, Dialectics and Capital - After Luis Arboledas-Lerida

Some Thoughts on Science, Dialectics and Capital - After Luis Arboledas-Lérida

This is a critique of Luis Arboledas-Lérida's article, The Gap Between Science and Society and the Intrinsically Capitalistic Character of Science Communication—https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2022.2111670—for the Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective.

It is now online at:

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367077773_Some_Thoughts_on_Science_Dialectics_and_Capital_-_After_Luis_Arboledas-Lerida

Academia: https://www.academia.edu/94894824/Some_Thoughts_on_Science_Dialectics_and_Capital_After_Luis_Arboledas_L%C3%A9rida

Arboledas-Lérida's article was published in 'Social Epistemology' online on 21 September. This critical review was published in Social Epistemology Review & Reply Collective on 11 January 2023.

See: https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-7uV Cite as: Rikowski, Glenn. 2023. Some Thoughts on Science, Dialectics and Capital—After Luis Arboledas-Lérida. Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 12 (1): 13-21. https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-7uV.

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski:

@ Academia: https://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

@ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski  

Interview with Glenn Rikowski - Marxism & Sciences

 

Interview with Glenn Rikowski – Marxism & Sciences

 

This interview is now available at:

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368654826_Interview_with_Glenn_Rikowski_-_Marxism_Sciences

Academia: https://www.academia.edu/97210925/Interview_with_Glenn_Rikowski_Marxism_and_Sciences   

 

Glenn Rikowski is interviewed by Siyaveş Azeri and Ali C. Gedik

Marxism & Sciences: A Journal of Nature, Culture, Human and Society, Volume 2 Issue 1 (2023), pp.178-184.

 

For a PDF of all of the interviews, see: https://marxismandsciences.org/interviews-rethinking-the-foundations-of-marxism-and-ilyenkovian-contributions/ and https://marxismandsciences.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/interviews_ms_230102107.pdf  

 

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2023), The Foundations of Marxism II: Ilyenkovian Contributions – see: https://marxismandsciences.org/volume-2-issue-1/  

 

Marxism & Sciences: A Journal of Nature, Culture, Human and Society – see: https://marxismandsciences.org/

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

@ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski

@ Academia: https://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski  

Encyclopaedia of Marxism and Education

Encyclopaedia of Marxism and Education

Edited by Alpesh Maisuria

Published by Brill: Leiden

ISBN: 978-90-04-50560-5

Published: 6 January 2022

For those concerned with exploring education through Marx and Marxism this is an important book. Alpesh Maisuria has assembled a tremendous international array of authors to address the significance of Marx and Marxism for education today.

Introduction by the Publisher:

This encyclopaedia showcases the explanatory power of Marxist educational theory and practice. The entries have been written by 51 leading authors from across the globe. The 39 entries cover an impressive range of contemporary issues and historical problematics. The editor has designed the book to appeal to readers within the Marxism and education intellectual tradition, and also those who are curious newcomers, as well as critics of Marxism.

The Encyclopaedia of Marxism and Education is the first of its kind. It is a landmark text with relevance for years to come for the productive dialogue between Marxism and education for transformational thinking and practice.

 

For Table of Contents, see: https://brill.com/view/title/61529?language=en

My chapter in the book is: Marxism and Education: [Closed] and …Open… pp.421-438.

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski  

Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

 

 

SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS

 

SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS

 

These recent publications can be found at ResearchGate and Academia:

 

Rikowski, G. (2021) An Interview with Glenn Rikowski. Rethinking Critical Pedagogy, Vol.2 Issue 1, March.

At ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350487423_An_Interview_with_Glenn_Rikowski

At Academia: https://www.academia.edu/45641960/An_Interview_with_Glenn_Rikowski

 

Rikowski, G. (2021) Crisis. In: S. Themelis (ed.) Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education: Dangerous Words and Discourses of Possibility. London: Routledge.

At ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347109171_Crisis

At Academia: https://www.academia.edu/45079016/Crisis

 

Rikowski, G. (2020) Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis (Critica de Theoria Clássica de Crise da Educação). Trabalho & Educação, Vol.29 No.3, pp.16-67, September-December. (English with Portuguese Abstract).

At ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348349675_Critique_of_the_Classical_Theory_of_Education_Crisis_Critica_de_Theoria_Classica_de_Crise_da_Educacao

At Academia: https://www.academia.edu/44897543/Critica_de_Theoria_Cl%C3%A1ssica_de_Crise_da_Educa%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Critique_of_the_Classical_Theory_of_Education_Crisis_  

 

Rikowski, G. (2020) The Psychology of Capital. In: Stankovic Pejnović, V. & Matić, I. (Eds.) New Understanding of Capital in the 21^st Century. Belgrade: Institute for Political Studies.

At ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346627387_The_Psychology_of_Capital

At Academia: https://www.academia.edu/44634483/The_Psychology_of_Capital

 

Rikowski, G. (2020) Educação e Tragédia do Trabalho. In: A. Slider do Nascimento de Paula, F. Ferreira Costa, Kátia Rodrigues Lima & K. Costa Pereira (Eds.) CRÍTICA, TRABALHO E POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS NO CENÁRIO DO CAPITALISMO MUNDIALIZADO, Chapter 6, Marilia: Lutus Anticapital. (Portuguese).

At ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345747254_Educacao_e_Tragedia_do_Trabalho

At Academia: https://www.academia.edu/44480217/Educacao_e_Tragedia_do_Trabalho

 

Glenn Rikowski

London, 10^th May 2021

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn-Rikowski  

 

Marxist Education Across the Generations: A Dialogue on Education, Time, and Transhumanism

MARXIST EDUCATION ACROSS THE GENERATIONS: A DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION, TIME, AND TRANSHUMANISM

A Dialogue by Derek R. Ford and Glenn Rikowski

A pre-print of this Dialogue was published in Postdigital Science and Education on 9^th January 2019

In this dialogue, two educational theorists discuss a range of topics at the nexus of Marxism and education, exploring the rich and diverse paths traversed within and around Marxist educational theory. The first part consists of a synthesis of their own trajectories and how they fit into broader social movements and political and academic conversations. In particular, they focus on the social production of labor-power and pedagogical logics. The second part concentrates on postdigital debates, including conceptions of time and transhumanism.

In June of 2018, Derek Ford contacted Glenn Rikowski proposing a collaboration, and Glenn suggested a dialogue. After a few months of preparation, they began the dialogue over e-mail in early October. A few weeks later, Derek visited Glenn in England for 5 days. They finished the conversation over e-mail, completing it in December 2018.

This dialogue is now available in pre-print format at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/38235324/Marxist_Education_Across_the_Generations_a_Dialogue_on_Education_Time_and_Transhumanism

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique

MARXISM AND EDUCATION: FRAGILITY, CRISIS, CRITIQUE

I have a new article out in Cadernos do GPOSSHE On-line, Vol.1 No.1 (2018): pp.142-170, Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique.

It now available at Academia, @ https://www.academia.edu/37616749/Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique

It is also available at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328428970_Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique

ABSTRACT

The article rests substantially on the work of John Holloway, especially his early articles in Common Sense: Journal of the Edinburgh Conference of Socialist Economists. On this foundation, it is argued, firstly, that the importance of Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the constitution, development and rule of capital in contemporary society. Understanding these fragilities sharpens the critical edge of any movements aimed at social transformation out of the madhouse of capital.

Glenn Rikowski

 ***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Marxism and Education: Frgaility, Crisis, Critique, Negativity, and Social Form(s)

Dr. Glenn Rikowski

MARXISM AND EDUCATION: 

FRAGILITY, CRISIS, CRITIQUE, NEGATIVITY, AND SOCIAL FORM(S)

This is a paper I prepared for the International Conference on Critical Education VIII, University of East London, Stratford Campus, 25 – 28 July 2018. The Abstract is below, and the paper itself can be viewed at Academia and at ResearchGate.

Glenn Rikowski

ABSTRACT

Why Marxism? Why Marxist educational theory? Through addressing these questions, this paper proclaims the importance of Marxism as a theory that intellectually disrupts and ruptures capitalist society and its educational forms. With reference to the work of John Holloway, it is argued that the significance of Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the constitution of capital. Grasping these fragilities in the rule of capital in contemporary social life sharpens the critical edge of any politics aimed at social transformation. Marxist educational theory plays an important role in this enterprise. These points are illustrated through consideration of the following ideas and phenomena: fragility, crisis, critique, negativity and social form(s). It is argued that fragility must be the starting point as Marxism is primarily a theory of capitalist weaknesses, and not the opposite: a theory of capitalist domination. Following Holloway, Marxism is a theory against society, rather than just another mainstream theory of society. Against Holloway, it is argued that the forms that fragilities for labour take also need to be understood. Paradoxically, our strength vis-à-vis capital is also the place for apprehending the fragilities and dependencies of labour. This vicious duality also exists in terms of crises in capitalism, and this flows into the phenomena of critique and negativity too. Finally, on the basis of this theorisation, the doors of capitalist hell are opened through a consideration of social forms in general and commodity forms in particular and their relations to educational processes and institutions. It is at this point that Marxist educational theory enters the stage, although in a transfigured form. In 1997, I wrote an article for the British Journal of Sociology of Education called ‘Scorched Earth: Prelude to Rebuilding Marxist Educational Theory’. Twenty-one years later, this paper can be viewed as my definitive first element in a programme of rebuilding Marxist educational theory.

Available from:

The full paper can be downloaded from Academia, at: https://www.academia.edu/37095004/Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Form_s_

The full paper can be downloaded from ResearchGate, at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326545788_Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Forms

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Deturpações: Notas críticas sobre Mercadorias e Educação

Glenn Rikowski

Deturpações: Notas críticas sobre Mercadorias e Educação

My article Deturpações: Notas críticas sobre Mercadorias e Educação has been published in Curriculo sem Fronteiras (Vol.18 No.1), a Brazilian journal.

The Resumo / Abstract are below, and you can get the article from either Academia of ResearchGate.

Glenn Rikowski

Resumo

Este artigo argumenta que as tentativas de entender a mercantilização da educação e da pesquisa educacional, sem recorrer ao maior pensador sobre as formas de mercadoria - Karl Marx -, inevitavelmente levam a confusões e a deturpações na teoria educacional. Isso é demonstrado por meio de uma crítica a um artigo recente de David Bridges (2017), no qual o autor se concentra na mercantilização na pesquisa educacional. Ao ignorar as ideias de Marx, e também de teóricos marxistas contemporâneos, que escrevem sobre a mercadoria e a mercantilização, Bridges não realiza distinções cruciais na análise da mercantilização e, além de confundir conceitos, confunde os fenômenos que lhes são correspondentes, os quais deveriam ser tratados separadamente. No caso, Bridges e outros teóricos educacionais convencionais, que evitam a referência à Marx e à teoria marxista, acabam criando uma série de falsas declarações em suas análises sobre a mercantilização educacional. Tais abordagens camuflam a capitalização da educação; isto é, os processos pelos quais as instituições educativas "se tornam capital", o devenir do capital. Essas teorizações são superficiais e politicamente enganosas.

Palavras-chave: mercantilização da educação, marxismo, pesquisa educacional.

Abstract

This paper argues that attempts to understand commodification in education and educational research without recourse to the greatest thinker on commodity forms – Karl Marx – inevitably leads to confusion and misrepresentation in educational theory. This is demonstrated through a critique of a recent paper by David Bridges (2017) where he focuses on commodification in education research. By ignoring the ideas of Marx, but also contemporary Marxist theorists writing on the commodity and commodification, Bridges fails to make crucial distinctions in the analysis of commodification, and also conflates and confuses concepts and their corresponding phenomena that should be kept separate. In the event, Bridges, and other mainstream educational theorists who avoid reference to Marx and Marxist theory, end up creating a host of misrepresentations in their analyses of educational commodification. Such approaches camouflage the capitalisation of education; that is, educational institutions ‘becoming capital’, the becoming of capital. These theorisations are superficial and politically misleading.

Keywords: commodification of education, Marxism, educational research.

At Academia: http://www.academia.edu/36861405/Deturpa%C3%A7%C3%B5es_Notas_cr%C3%ADticas_sobre_Mercadorias_e_Educa%C3%A7%C3%A3o

At ResearchGate:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325766732_Deturpacoes_Notas_criticas_sobre_Mercadorias_e_Educacao

The paper is in English as: Misrepresentations: Critical Notes on Commodities and Education, which is available at Academia @: https://www.academia.edu/35799008/Misrepresentations_Critical_Notes_on_Commodities_and_Education

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Misrepresentations: Critical Notes on Commodities and Education

Dr. Glenn Rikowski

Misrepresentations: Critical Notes on Commodities and Education

Glenn Rikowski

Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

This is a paper I wrote in response to a presentation I went to at the 2017 Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) Annual Conference at Oxford, by David Bridges.

The paper was completed on 3^rd October 2017, at is now available at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/35799008/Misrepresentations_Critical_Notes_on_Commodities_and_Education

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that attempts to understand commodification in education and educational research without recourse to the greatest thinker on commodity forms – Karl Marx – inevitably leads to confusion and misrepresentation in educational theory. This is demonstrated through a critique of a recent paper by David Bridges (2017) where he focuses on commodification in education research. By ignoring the ideas of Marx, but also contemporary Marxist theorists writing on the commodity and commodification, Bridges fails to make crucial distinctions in the analysis of commodification, and also conflates and confuses concepts and their corresponding phenomena that should be kept separate. In the event, Bridges, and other mainstream educational theorists who avoid reference to Marx and Marxist theory, end up creating a host of misrepresentations in their analyses of educational commodification. Such approaches camouflage the capitalisation of education; that is, educational institutions ‘becoming capital’, the becoming of capital. These theorisations are superficial and politically misleading.

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski