Lombardi, J. C., Saviani, D. & Sanfelice, J. L. (Eds.) (2002). Capitalismo, Trabalho e Educação. Campinas, SP: Autores Associados.
163 pp.
ISBN 85-7496-053-5
Reviewed by John P. Myers
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
May 1, 2004
Educational researchers, particularly those who favor a critical perspective, have paid considerable attention to the effect of neoliberalism on national educational systems within the context of globalization. The analysis of neoliberal policies vis-à-vis education has often focused on the impact of privatization, decentralization and school choice, which are key policies in contemporary international trends in educational reform (e.g. Gorostiaga Derqui, 2001). Critics of neoliberalism charge that it employs an economic rationale to guide educational reforms while ignoring national and sub-national cultural differences, and that it has exacerbated social and educational inequalities (Apple, 2001; Puiggrós, 1999). Other works investigate exceptional programs that seek to counteract neoliberal educational discourses (e.g. Gandin & Apple, 2002). A weakness, however, is that much of this work either remains at the level of analysis and critique, eschewing pedagogical and political alternatives to neoliberalism, or idealizes alternative programs.
Latin American authors have paid particular attention to the effects of neoliberalism because of the belief that they are a form of North American imperialism. This is the case in Brazil, where educators and other scholars have developed a well-articulated critique of the policies of the so-called Washington Consensus. A relevant issue for educators in North America, who are mostly unfamiliar with publications from Latin America (and for that matter from other regions in the developing world), is whether the analysis on the effect of neoliberal policies and global markets on Latin American systems of education will provide a deeper understanding of this topic.
This book, a collection of conference proceedings, has the potential to reveal a regional perspective by bringing together the voices of some of the top education scholars in Brazil to analyze the relationship between capitalism, labor and education. Most of the chapters were presented in 2001 at a conference organized by the History, Society and Education in Brazil research group (HISTEDBR). The group originated in 1986 at the University of Campinas by a group of doctoral students under the supervision of Professor Dermeval Saviani, one of the editors of this volume. The stated objective of the group is to work collectively on themes in the historiography and history of Brazilian education. That this group would organize a conference on the theme of capitalism, work and education is notable for two reasons. In the first place, it is comprised primarily of historians of Brazilian education. Interestingly, for a group of historians, most of the works in this collection are theoretical and polemical. Secondly, the topic of markets and education is approached from a labor perspective, which pays attention to effect of the economic system on workers and the relationship of education to labor.
The first three sections of this book correspond to the organization of sessions at the 5th Seminar of HISTEDBR. Part I contains the opening address given by Saviani. Parts II and III present the works of the speakers at two round table sessions of the conference. The only exception is the essay by Frigotto in part II, whose work was included in the publication although he did not participate the conference. In Part IV, Saviani and Lombardi review the history and contributions of HISTEDBR during the past fifteen years.
In the first chapter, Saviani discusses the origins of the HISTEDBR group and his involvement in its founding, which was based on a common interest in examining the history of education from a Marxist, dialectical perspective. He also explains why a group of researchers on the history of education chose for the conference theme the relations between capitalism, labor and education. His rationale draws on Althusser to argue that capital must be understood in order to have a radical interpretation of contemporary history, including the history of education. This is particularly relevant, he notes, because of the evidence that global markets are not fulfilling their promises to distribute wealth and development for classes and social groups. The main trend that he finds is a deliberate cycling of periods of economic growth and recession in order to disrupt the workers’ ability to pressure for economic change.
In Part II, entitled ‘Capitalism, Work and Education,’ Ianni ponders the changing role of the individual as a citizen resulting from contemporary transformations in the world. He suggests that the changes brought on by globalization are creating a new citizen, who is not only national but also global, and that the media is an important institution for challenging dominant powers such as corporations. Ianni concludes that neoliberalism is not in complete control of this new situation and that the emerging “global citizen” has the potential to re-shape society. Antunes, in the second chapter, focuses on the economic disparities and widespread exclusion that the contemporary form of global capitalism has created, represented by concepts such as “total quality.” He asserts that this state is evident in the “destructive and superfluous consumption” of the wealthy classes, which has led to renewed struggles by workers and groups marginalized by this system in an effort to demonstrate the inequality and injustice of contemporary society.
Gentili argues in the third chapter that the promises of human capital theory, such as higher education attainment leading to success in the job market and to improved national development, have not been realized in Brazil or other Latin American countries. Instead, the people of this region have become “poorer and more ‘educated.’” He argues that education, in the present economic system, is conceived of as an individual choice rather than as a right and that the promise of full employment has been replaced by private choice and the promise of “employability.” Gentili asserts that the inequality of school systems in Latin America is a major factor: “‘Educated’ in a pulverized and segmented school system, which are cohabitated by educational circuits of diverse opportunities and quality; opportunities and qualities that change according to the social condition of the subjects and the economic resources that they have for accessing the privileged sphere of citizenship rights” (p.59). In the final chapter of this section, Frigotto discusses the relationship between the subject and structures, emphasizing the potential for human agency. The role of education in the current capitalist ideology, expressed in the concept of employability, is to produce a “minimum citizen” that is lacking civic competencies. He argues that capitalism is not a civilizing force but is destructive and needs to be replaced by a more humane system.
Part III presents three chapters on the theme of ‘Capitalism, Work and Education in Brazil.’ In the first chapter, Kuenzer examines the affect of the neoliberal state and the globalization of the economy on the relationship between work and education in order to guide the construction of a pedagogy for human emancipation. He argues that a “toyotist pedagogy” has been introduced in schools, which are based on acquiring cognitive competencies that valorize capital and produce flexible workers. Next, Ferretti discusses how different actors, especially labor unions, educators and employers, have understood the challenges made to education in Brazil in recent years. He critiques the educational policies in the 1990s implemented by the Brazilian government and international organizations like the World Bank. He concludes that, regarding neoliberalism, “the danger consists in the possibility… that the content of general education is conveniently “suitable” to the future necessities of professional-technical training.” In the third chapter, Ciavatta examines the world of labor using historical photographs as a lens for reconstructing the lives of factory workers. In order to critique the effect that advanced capitalism has had on labor and education, Ciavatta introduces the concept of the “school of labor,” a historical mediation of the world of labor that “must be understood as a complex social process, a human act, a movement of ideas and actions that accompany the introduction of work in the school as an educative principle.” (p.9)
This book brings together talented Brazilian scholars working on a set of common issues from Marxist and critical perspectives. Their intent is to raise provocative questions and debate around these issues, at which they are highly successful. However, this book will not on the whole satisfy those readers looking for carefully researched studies on neoliberal, free market capitalism and education, nor, with the exception of Ferretti (and Gentili and Kuenzer to a lesser extent), does the volume illuminate the form that neoliberal policies are taking in Brazilian society and their effect on the education system. As such, the chapters are at times narrowly theoretical. This volume does not lay out a cohesive Brazilian or Latin American perspective on neoliberalism and education and its challenges in this region but relies more often on generalized and uncontextualized analyses.
Perhaps this line of questioning is overly ambitious for an edited collection of conference papers as opposed to full-length studies; in fact, a regional perspective was not the professed intent of the conference organizers. The problem with this abstract approach is that, like much of the work that is being published on neoliberalism today in North America, the authors do not extend their comprehensive analysis to include political and educational solutions. As such, this volume will be most useful to scholars looking for a provocative and insightful critique of the macro-level relationship between global capitalism and education, and of lesser interest to teachers and educational reformers interested in ways to challenge and shape this relationship.
References
Apple, M. (2001). Comparing neo-liberal projects and inequality in education. Comparative Education, 37(4), 409–423.
Gandin, L. A. & Apple, M. (2002). Challenging neo-liberalism, building democracy: Creating the Citizen School in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Journal of Education Policy, 17(2), 259-79.
Gorostiaga Derqui, J. (2001). Educational decentralization policies in Argentina and Brazil: Exploring the new trends. Journal of Education Policy, 16(6), 561–583.
Puiggrós, A. (1999). Neoliberalism and education in the Americas. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
About the Reviewer
John P. Myers is a doctoral candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He specializes in International and Comparative Education, and has research interests in citizenship education and social studies education. Email: jomyers@oise.utoronto.ca
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