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Abstract
In this essay we will try to explore (1) the economic, political and cultural origins of the ‘future of education and work’ neoliberal élan; (2) its main agents and structures in terms of institutional-designing, policymaking or multilateral-organizing; and, (3) how the European Union project—both the ‘New Old World’ (London: Verso, 2009) or the ‘Ever Closer Union’ (London: Verso, 2021)—is closely linked to its most important core-planning of some kind of what Coelho and Freitas (Roteiro, 44:3, 2019) called a discursive ‘future-devising’, new hegemonic wager. Modern imperialism as a specific arrangement in the interior of global capitalism—a socio-metabolic mode of control—faced at least three different forms of theoretical and methodological criticisms in the past quarter of a century. We will first try to relate its outcomes most of all towards the worlds of work and education. Secondly, we intend to formulate the outlines of the principal organizations and constructions, informed by these neoliberal reconfigurations, mainly the stratagems and programmes that sealed its destiny in European territory. Then, we will investigate the newest aggiornamenti, ‘European Union Recovery Instrument’—around, for instance, digitalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution—and the ‘European Year of Skills’ (2023). Finally, we will try to offer some alternative formula to it developing from the established foundations of what Freitas and Coelho prognosticated in a series of recent works crafted a quatromanni.
Acknowledgments
The authors had the support of FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 U. von der Leyen, State of the Union Address, 14 September 2022. European Commission: speech/22/5493, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/speech_22_5493 (accessed 20 June 2023).
2 S. Halimi and P. Rimbert, ‘Western Media as Cheerleaders for War’, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2023.
3 C. Clausewitz, On War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), p. 280.
4 U. von der Leyen, State of the Union Address SPEECH/22/5493 (Brussels: 14 September 2022), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/speech_22_5493.
5 European Commission, Commission Kick-Starts Work on the European Year of Skills (Brussels: Press Release, 12 October 2022), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6086.
6 OECD, The Future of Education and Skills, Education 2030: The Future We Want (Paris: Directorate for Education and Skills, 2018).
7 M. Abádia da Silva et. al. ‘Governar por números’, Rev. Bras. Educ. (Rio de Janeiro), 27, (Mar. 2022), pp. 1–20.
8 R. Leher, ‘Um novo senhor da educação?’, Revista Outubro (São Paulo), 1:3 (1999), pp. 19–30; L. de Tommasi et. al., Banco Mundial e as políticas educacionais, São Paulo, Editora Cortez, 2009; R. Evangelista da Cruz, Banco Mundial e política educacional, Rev. Educ., 22 (Jul. 2003), pp. 51–75.
9 The ‘banking model of education’ was a didactic metaphor. P. Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York/London: Continuum, 2005); and, A. Gramsci, Quaderni del Carcere. Edizione Critica (Torino: Einaudi, 1975).
10 P. Anderson, The New Old World (London: Verso, 2009); and Ever Closer Union? (London: Verso, 2021).
11 R. Freitas and H. Coelho, ‘Futuro antecipado na educação’, Roteiro (Sta. Catarina), 44:3 (Dec. 2019).
12 The theoretical debate on neoliberal globalization and its critical ‘state of the art' narrowly follows Prof. R. Braga, ‘A herança do neoliberalismo’, Revista Cult (São Paulo), 219:19 (Dec. 2016), pp. 16-22.
13 D. McNally, Global Slump (Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2011).
14 Braga, op. cit.
15 G. Gonçalves Leite., 'Klaus Dörre', Blog da Boitempo, São Paulo, 13.09.2022.
16 K. Dörre, S. Lessenisch, and H. Rosa, Sociology, Capitalism, Critique, transl: L. Balhorn and J.P. Herrmann (London: Verso, 2015).
17 D. Harvey, The Limits of Capital (London: Verso, 2015).
18 G. Gonçalves, ‘Apresentação’, K. Dörre, Teorema da expropriação capitalista, Boitempo, São Paulo, 2022, pp. 7-17.
19 Braga, op. cit. C. Dardot and P. Dardot, A nova razão do mundo (São Paulo: Boitempo, 2013); C.A. Laval, Escola não é uma Empresa (São Paulo: Boitempo, 2020).
20 Braga, op. cit.
21 Braga, op. cit. L. Cox and A. Nilsen, We Make Our Own History (London: Pluto Press, 2014).
22 Braga, op. cit.
23 Dörre, op. cit.
24 Gonçalves Leite, op. cit.
25 Ibid., p. 7.
26 Braga, op. cit.
27 The historical-critical research of Profa. M. Abádia da Silva - in thematic conferences, theoretical essays and books of reference – are the vital references to the following sections. (See also R. Leher, op. cit. L. de Tommasi, op. cit. and also R. Evangelista da Cruz. op. cit.).
28 R. Leher, A educação como estratégia do Banco Mundial (Tese de Doutorado), USP (São Paulo), 1998, p. 202.
29 M. Abádia da Silva, ‘A hegemonia do Banco Mundial nas políticas educacionais’, Revista Nuances (São Paulo), v.6 (Oct. 2000), pp. 35-53.
30 Leher, op. cit.
31 ‘Portugal is the first successful example of a revolution defeated with the ultimate establishment of a representative democracy of that type. It was the model that would be used in post-Francoist Spain and even in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, in the 1980s. The ´Carter Doctrine’, privileging parliamentary tools vis-à-vis military efforts, could better be nominated, as the essay’s title now suggests, ‘The Soares Doctrine’ (Raquel Varela, ‘The Soares Doctrine’, The Brooklin Rail Journal, 7 February 2018). The major shift cannot be explained without the historical-political conjuncture of the revolutionary wave that goes from 1967 (an industrial upsurge in Britain) up to 1978 (the political counter-revolution in Portugal and Spain).
32 R. McNamara, Cem países, dois bilhões de seres (Rio de Janeiro, FGV, 1974), p. 11.
33 Although or contrary to its post-dramaturgical and post-modernist original mis-en-scène, the play was a product of the collaboration between John Adams and Peter Sellars—the narrative reaches unintended consequences, after the fashion of epic authors such as Brecht and Erwin Piscator, with a critical and satirical commentary on world-historical events that were beginning to be thought of in a reflexive approach.
34 Abádia da Silva, op. cit; M. Abádia da Silva, Do projeto político do Banco Mundial, Cedes, 23:61 (Dec 2013), pp. 283-301.
35 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
36 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit; M. Abádia da Silva, 2022, op. cit.; R. Evangelista da Cruz, 2003, op. cit.
37 C. Bouhali, ‘ The OECD neoliberal governance’, Decolonizing Global Citizenship Education, A.A. Abdi et. al. (Sense: Rotterdam, 2015), pp. 119–129.
38 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
39 A. Supiot, Governance by Numbers (London: Bloomsbury, 2017); Abádia da Silva, 2022, op. cit..
40 L.M. Carvalho, E. Costa, ‘The praise of mutual surveillance’, R. Normand, J.L. Derouet, A European Politics of Education (Oxford, Routledge, 2017), pp. 53–72.
41 M.B. Carola, The impact of the Erasmus+ Program... (Master's Degree), UCP, 71pp.
42 Quotes translated from Portuguese version of OECD, The Future of Education and Skills, Education 2030, op. cit.
43 Abádia da Silva, 2022, op. cit.
44 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
45 OECD, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators (Paris: OECD Publishing), https://doi.org/10.1787/19991487.
46 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
47 M Horkheimer, Teoria Tradicional e Teoria Crítica (São Paulo, Abril, 1980), p. 117.
48 Comissão Europeia, Educação e formação: urgem as reformas para coroar com êxito a estratégia de Lisboa. COM 685 Final (Bruxelas: EC, 2003) apud M. Abádia dos Santos, ‘Educação e formação docente no ensino superior da União Europeia’, RBPAE, 28:3 (Dec. 2012), pp. 607–628; N. Morel, Towards a social investment welfare state? (Bristol, Policy Press, 2012).
49 Comissão Europeia, Educação e Formação, op. cit; N. Hirtt, ‘Bologne’. In: Quaderni, 63, 2007, Nouveaux Mots du Pouvoir, pp. 15-18; Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
50 Hirtt op. cit.
51 A. Catani et. al., O espaço europeu de educação superior para além da Europa (Buenos Aires: Clacso, 2015).
52 Comissão Europeia, Ensinar e aprender: rumo à sociedade cognitiva. COM 59 Final (Bruxelas: EC, 1995). And Comissão Europeia, Crecimiento, competitividad y empleo: retos y pistas para entrar en el siglo XXI. Libro Blanco (Bruxelas: EC, 1993).
53 J. Delors, I. Al-Mufti, I. Amagi, R. Carneiro, F. Chung, et al. Educação um tesouro a descobrir: relatório para a UNESCO da Comissão Internacional sobre Educação para o século XXI (São Paulo: Cortez Editora, 1996).
54 Comissão Europeia, Ensinar e aprender, op. cit., [p. XX].
55 N. Duarte, Sociedade do conhecimento ou sociedade das ilusões? (Campinas: Autores Associados, 2008); and Vigotski e o ‘aprender a aprender’ (Campinas: Autores Associados, 2000).
56 D. Hill and R. Kumar, Global Neoliberalism and Education and Its Consequences (London: Routledge, 2009).
57 P. Mayo, Hegemony and Education under Neoliberalism: Insights from Gramsci (London: Routledge, 2015).
58 R. Leher and I. Accioly, Commodifying Education: Theoretical and Methodological Aspects of Financialization of Education Policies in Brazil (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2016).
59 P. Perrenoud, ‘Des savoirs aux compétences: de quoi parle-t-on en parlant de compétences?’, Pédagogie collégiale (Québec), 9:1 (octobre 1995), pp. 20–24, http://www.unige.ch/fapse/SSE/teachers/perrenoud/php_main/php_1995/1995_08.html.
60 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
61 Gayatri C. Spivak once submitted a striking question to the public forum four decades ago: — “Can the subaltern speak?” (Oxford, 1988). Maybe we could reelaborate some of its prisms in differente, new directions.
62 N. Hirtt, ‘Adaptação e flexibilidade’, Le Monde Diplomatic, Brasil, 1 de outubro de 2010, https://diplomatique.org.br/adaptacao-e-flexibilidade/
63 N. Hirtt, ‘Adaptação e Flexibilidade’, Le Monde Diplomatique (São Paulo), 39, 2010.
64 Interview with Prof. Roberto Leher to the documentary ‘Raised in the Ground: Global Labour History’ (Colectivo Kairós: 2024/2025).
65 N. Hirtt, ‘Markets and Education in the Era of Globalized Capitalism', D. Hill and R. Kumar, Global Neoliberalism and Education and Its Consequences (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 208-226. C. Kaufmann. L'enseignement supérieur en Europe. Actes ‘l'Université dans la Tourmente,’ Brussels, Fev. 25.
66 Hirtt, 2009, op. cit.
67 K. Marx, Grundrisse 1857–1858 (São Paulo: Boitempo, 2011).
68 M. Postone, ‘Teorizando o mundo contemporâneo’, Novos estud. CEBRAP, 81 (Jul 2008), https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-33002008000200008.
69 R.G. Freitas and H.R. Coelho, ‘Futuro antecipado na Educação’, Roteiro, 44:3 (2019), pp. 1–24, DOI:10.18593/r.v44i3.21401. R.G. Freitas and H.R. Coelho, ‘Modernizar para não ficar para trás: políticas de emulação neoliberal no sistema educacional italiano’, Marx e o Marxismo, Niterói, 6:11 (jul/dez 2018), pp. 265–278.
70 P. Arantes, O Novo Tempo do Mundo (São Paulo: Boitempo, 2014).
71 OECD, Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence (Paris: OECD/LEGAL/0449, 2022).
72 C. Goujard, ‘Forty-Two Countries Adopt Principles for Artificial Intelligence’, Canada’s National Observer, 22 May 2019, https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/22/news/42-countries-adopt-principles-artificial-intelligence.
73 N. Aschoff, The New Prophets of Capital (New York: Verso Books, 2015).
74 Freitas and Coelho, ‘Futuro antecipado na Educação’, op. Cit., p. 2.
75 Ibid., p. 2.
76 Freitas and Coelho, op. cit.
77 D. Bensaïd, La discordance des temps (Paris: Editions de la Passion, 1995).
78 Freitas and Coelho, ‘Modernizar para não ficar para trás’, op. cit.
79 OECD, The Future of Education and Skills, Education 2030, op. cit.
80 B. Holzapfez, O Ensino em 2030 e o aprendizado pronto para a vida. Relatório Resumido, 2018, p. 5, blogmicrosofteducacao.com.br/pt-br/blogmicrosofteducacao/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SALA-DE-2030-PESQUISA.pdf.
81 Freitas and Coelho, ‘Futuro antecipado na Educação’, op. cit., pp. 18–19.
82 Gramsci, op. cit.. Q.8, §191, p. 1056. apud P. Thomas. After (post) hegemony. Contemporary Political Theory, 20 / 2, 2021, pp. 318-340.
83 Ibid., Q.10, §44, p. 1331. apud P. Thomas. After (post) hegemony. Contemporary Political Theory, 20 / 2, 2021, pp. 318-340.
84 Arantes, op. cit.
85 Marx, op. cit.
86 Arantes, op. cit., p. 315.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid., pp. 172–173.
89 Anderson, The New Old World, op. cit.; Ever Closer Union?, op. cit. P. Anderson, ‘Why the System Will Still Win’, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2017. P. Anderson, ‘The European Coup’, London Review of Books, 17 December 2020. P. Anderson, ‘Ever Closer Union’, London Review of Books, 7 January 2021. P. Anderson, ‘The Breakaway’, London Review of Books, 21 January 2021.
90 L. Trotsky, Europe and America: Two Speeches (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1971).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Roberto della Santa
Roberto della Santa is a social scientist, fellow scholar and Brazilian journalist. He was an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Methods and Techniques of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is part of the Center for Studies and Interdisciplinary Research ‘Marx and Marxism’ at the Federal Fluminense University. He holds a PhD in Sociological Theory from the State University of São Paulo, was a Junior (Researcher) at the Latin American Council of Social Sciences in Buenos Aires and Fellow Scholar at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Email: [email protected]
Raquel Varela
Raquel Varela is a historian, researcher and university professor at UNL FCSH. Her main areas of interest are global labour history, history of labour relations, and the contemporary history of Portugal. Her published books include Raquel Varela, Marcel van der Linden, Hugh Murphy: Shipbuilding Labour Around the World: a Global Labor History, (Amsterdam, Chicago University Press, 2015); Brief History of Europe (Bertrand, 2018), History of the People in the Portuguese Revolution 1974–1975 (Bertrand, Lisboa, 2014). Email: [email protected]