The tyranny of student satisfaction
Cruel optimistic fantasies in education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12929006 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D R Hansen (0000-0002-7297-8986, corresponding author), Karsten Mellon (0000-0003-4879-0155) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 172-185 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Power and Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1757-7438 • E-ISSN: 1757-7438 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/17577438221075294 |
| OpenAlex | W4210684760 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 35 |
In this theoretical paper, we reflect on the optimistic neoliberal fantasies that are played out in today’s education, even though that they rarely live up to their promises. Inspired by Lauren Berlant’s concept of cruel optimism, and psychoanalytical thinkers as Slavoj Žižek and Ilan Kapoor, and their focus on concepts such as fantasy, desire, enjoyment, and the unconscious, we argue that there is a contemporary tendency for critical thinking and complicated conversations to be neglected or avoided in education, especially these forms of thinking and conversations that can question the neoliberal fantasmatic order and the cruelnss as well as the enjoyment that come with it. Instead, educational institutions and educators must live up to the demands of the big (neoliberal market) Other and its desire for positive student evaluations that mirror satisfaction and quality regarding the educational “product” that students are promised. How it looks will be illustrated by means of examples that derive from a Danish educational context. On that basis, we claim that we are witnessing a form of satisfaction tyranny in education and discuss what it means if educational institutions and educators cannot release themselves from their neoliberal involvement
Higher education · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Cruel Optimism
Neoliberal education? Confronting the slouching beast
Reputational Risk as a Logic of Organizing in Late Modernity
Education and the Democratic Person
Metric Society
The Transparency Society
Foucault as Educator
The bounced cheques of neoliberal fantasy
The ‘strong’ state and the ‘soft’ market in educational reform processes
Speaking of Universities
Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture
Eyes wide shut
The ‘grand simulation’ and dreams of success by assessment
The triumph of emptiness; consumption, higher education and work organization
Her majesty the student
Without Alibi
Undoing the Demos
Comedy Has Issues
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |