Dystopian Nightmares and Educated Hopes: The Return of the Pedagogical and the Promise of Democracy

This article examines how the political, economic, and ideological policies under neoliberalism in the United States are being used to wage a war against almost every facet of American life not directly governed by the logic and values of the market. War has become the central motif of the dystopian vision of neoliberalism and the effects of such an assault on the domestic front have been overshadowed by the war in Iraq. The article further argues that it is crucial that educators reclaim a revitalized notion of politics that gets beyond the discourse of critique, one which all too often in reductionistic fashion emphasizes either the crushing effects of domination or views people largely as victims. A more radical politics must consider embracing a notion of hope rooted in pedagogical work that both extends the sites of pedagogy and recognizes the importance of cultural politics as a preconditions for both creating revitalized democratic public spaces, social movements, and the possibility of social action. Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education? Free medical care? Free whatever? It comes from Moscow. From Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell.[1] My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub. (Dreyfus, 2001)