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Business & Economics Education

Retooling the Mind Factory

Education in a Lean State

by (author) Alan Sears

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2003
Category
Education, General, Social Policy
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781551930442
    Publish Date
    May 2003
    List Price
    $39.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442602953
    Publish Date
    May 2003
    List Price
    $24.95

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Description

Alan Sears examines education reform in relation to a broad process of cultural and economic change. His book makes the case that education reform is one aspect of a broad-ranging neo-liberal agenda that aims to push the market deeper into every aspect of our lives by eliminating or shrinking non-market alternatives. The author begins by showing that advocates of education reform have had to make the case that the current system is not working. This sets the ground for an examination of the so-called 'Common Sense Revolution,' a claim that drastic change was required to redesign government policies to fit a changing world. Lean production methods are a crucial component of this changing world, and broader social and cultural change is now required to consolidate the emerging order built on the spread of these methods. Education reform is designed to recast the relations of citizenship, contributing to the cultural and social change promoted through the social policy of the lean state.

About the author

Alan Sears is Professor of Sociology at Ryerson University, Toronto. He is the author of Retooling the Mind Factory: Education in a Lean State (UTP, 2003) and co-author with James Cairns of The Democratic Imagination (UTP, 2012).

Alan Sears' profile page