Henry Giroux joins Dick and Sharon in a conversation about neoliberalism and its impact on education. Henry believes that for decades, neoliberalism—a predatory form of capitalism—has waged a relentless war on the welfare state, dismantled the public sphere, and eroded the common good. Disguised in the rhetoric of freedom, it elevates market logic to the status of a governing ideology, insisting that every aspect of society must conform to the demands of economic activity. In practice, neoliberalism concentrates wealth in the hands of a financial elite while celebrating unrestrained self-interest, extreme individualism, deregulation, and privatization. It reduces citizenship to consumerism and strips public life of its collective purpose, creating a society where everything is commodified, yet nothing of real value is safeguarded. Within this framework, the devastating social costs of its policies—ranging from systemic racism and militarism to staggering inequality—are not merely tolerated but normalized. Neoliberalism is a systemic force of political, economic, and cultural violence, fostering despair while obliterating any vision of justice, solidarity, or care.
The 2008 financial crisis laid bare the catastrophic failures of this system, exposing its inherent corruption, its indifference to human suffering, and the complicity of the Democratic Party in preserving the status quo. This was no anomaly but a revelation of a deeply entrenched order that privileges markets and whiteness over life itself. Between 2020 and 2023, the Covid-19 pandemic further stripped neoliberalism of its veneer. To read this article in its entirety, go to:
https://www.laprogressive.com/education-reform/conscience-in-education
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