Rationalizations Within Neoliberalism: Public Schools, Protection, and the 1980s-1990s Culture Wars in Whatcom County, Washington
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: This masters thesis is a case study of neoliberalism within Whatcom County, Washington during the 1980s and 1990s culture wars. I explore the interrelationship of State laws, rhetoric, economic policies, and local public discourse as a way to take seriously the ideological and emotional experiences of community members during the culture wars. Through examining public discourse, I focus on the ways in which people expressed their thoughts and feelings, and how these informed, legitimized, denaturalized, and destabilized established hegemonic practices and beliefs, as well as informed new rationalities, practices, and moralisms. As sites where social reality is created, I focus on new forms of education within public schools (removal of Christmas from public schools, KNOW:HIV/AIDS curriculum, the DARE program) enacted by State laws, policies, and local policies. These new forms of education acculturated students in values, morals, goals, and desirable behaviors in line with economic theories that saw forms of education as investment in human capital. The implementation of new forms of education placed increased demands and responsibilities onto families, teachers, and school officials to assume personal responsibility in addressing mounting systemic social and economic ills. Cultural tensions emerged in response to fundamental changes in the acculturation of students, and the ways in which public schools were to be used and operated by the State.
Author: Vaughan Shubert
Language: English
Topic: Foucault, Power, and Ethics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3019114601