Education Commons^™

A Theory Without A Movement, A Hope Without A Name: The Future Of Marxism In A Post-Marxist World, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Just as Marx's insights into capitalism have been most strikingly vindicated by the rise of neoliberalism and the near-collapse of the world economy, Marxism as social movement has become bereft of support. Is there any point in people who find Marx's analysis useful in clinging to the term "Marxism" - which Marx himself rejected -- at time when self-identified Marxist organizations and societies have collapsed or renounced the identification, and Marxism own working class constituency rejects the term? I set aside bad reasons to give on "Marxism," such as that the theory is purportedly refuted, that its adoption leads necessarily …

Looking East, Looking West: Penang As A Knowledge Hub, Solvay Gerke, Hans-Dieter Evers

Hans-Dieter Evers

Penang has always been a focal point, absorbing nowledge (and popular culture) from civilizations to the East and West. In modern Penang the pattern of cultural contacts has changed over time. Research institutes and universities in Penang cooperate with foreign partners to produce research papers and reports. Based on an analysis of joint research output, the changing international position of Penang as an emerging research hub will be analysed. The paper will show that international cooperation has increased considerably between 1970 and 2010, but that there has also been a remarkable shift from European, Australian and American partners to East …

Collective Choice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

This short nontechnical article reviews the Arrow Impossibility Theorem and its implications for rational democratic decisionmaking. In the 1950s, economist Kenneth J. Arrow proved that no method for producing a unique social choice involving at least three choices and three actors could satisfy four seemingly obvious constraints that are practically constitutive of democratic decisionmaking. Any such method must violate such a constraint and risks leading to disturbingly irrational results such and Condorcet cycling. I explain the theorem in plain, nonmathematical language, and discuss the history, range, and prospects of avoiding what seems like a fundamental theoretical challenge to the possibility …

La Autonomía Universitaria: Una Perspectiva Política, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

En este artículo se discute la relación entre la autonomía —como forma de interacción entre las universidades y otras instituciones del Estado— con la conceptualización sobre la misma, en particular para el caso de la UNAM y otras universidades mexicanas. Se pone énfasis en la naturaleza política de la autonomía y por ende la necesidad de desarrollar perspectivas de corte político para su análisis y comprensión.

‘El Central Volumen De La Fuerza’ (The Hegemonic Global Pattern In The Reorganization Of Elite Higher Education And Research), Simon Marginson, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Los Límites De La Autonomía Universitaria, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

Uno de los resultados políticos de los conflictos que tuvieron lugar a lo largo de los años setenta, los cuales marcaron de cierta forma la pauta para las relaciones entre la Universidad y el gobier- no para la siguiente década, fue el refuerzo de los vínculos entre el gobierno federal y los grupos dominantes en el seno de la Universidad. En este contexto es posible señalar, contrariamente a lo que afirman Levy y otros, que durante los ochenta la intervención gubernamental en los asuntos políticos, académicos y económicos de la Universidad se hizo de forma más encubierta, pero su influencia …

La Política Azul Y Oro: Historias Orales, Relaciones De Poder Y Disputa Universitaria, Imanol Ordorika, Rafael López González

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Investigación Académica Y Políticas Públicas En La Educación Superior: El Caso Mexicano De Pago Por Méritos, Imanol Ordorika, Mina Alejandra Navarro

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Imagining Alternativas To Global, Corporate, New Economy Academic Capitalism, Gary Rhoades, Alma Maldonado-Maldonado, Imanol Ordorika, Martín Velásquez

Imanol Ordorika

In this article, the authors detail the conditions and patterns of academic capitalism and the new economy in US higher education. Subsequently, a conceptual model is offered for considering the international reach and national and local patterns of academic capitalism. Further, a distinctive Mexican case of entrepreneurialism is offered. The article concludes with a discussion of alternatives for a model of a universidad latinoamericana that is grounded in the historical role of Latin American universities.

La Academia En Jaque: Perspectivas Políticas Sobre La Evaluación De La Educación Superior En México, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Valores En Disputa E Identidad En Conflicto En La Educación Superior En México, Imanol Ordorika, Kenneth Kempner

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Power And Politics In University Governance: Organization And Change At The Universidad Nacional Autónoma De Mexico, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

The Political Nature Of The Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Barreras De Entrada A La Educación Superior Y A Oportunidades Profesionales Para La Población Indígena Mexicana, Martin Carnoy, Lucrecia Santibañez, Alma Maldonado-Maldonado, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.

Rights Of Inequality: Rawlsian Justice, Equal Opportunity, And The Status Of The Family, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Is the family subject to principles of justice? In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls includes the (monogamous) family along with the market and the government as among the "basic institutions of society" to which principles of justice apply. Justice, he famously insists, is primary in politics as truth is in science: the only excuse for tolerating injustice is that no lesser injustice is possible. The point of the present paper is that Rawls doesn't actually mean this. When it comes to the family, and in particular its impact on fair equal opportunity (the first part of the the Difference …

Bringing Political Theory To University Governance: The University Of California And The Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México, Brian Pusser, Imanol Ordorika

Imanol Ordorika

While important normative work has been produced on various aspects of governance, including trusteeship (Cheit, Holland and Taylor, 1991; Kerr and Gade, 1989), institutional autonomy (Berdahl, 1990), and governance struc- tures (Richardson ct al., 1998) little theoretical inquiry has been devoted to two essential questions of governance: how arc key decisions actually made in the postsecondary sector, and who makes them? In order to advance our unuer- stanuing of higher education governance and policy-making, it is first essential to restore a political theoretical framework to the study of higher cuucation organizations. To that end we begin with an historical review …

In Defence Of Exploitation, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

The concept of exploitation is thought to be central to Marx's Critique of capitalism. John Roemer, an analytical (then-) Marxist economist now at Yale, attacked this idea in a series of papers and books in the 1970s-1990s, arguing that Marxists should be concerned with inequality rather than exploitation -- with distribution rather than production, precisely the opposite of what Marx urged in The Critique of the Gotha Progam.

This paper expounds and criticizes Roemer's objections and his alternative inequality based theory of exploitation, while accepting some of his criticisms. It may be viewed as a companion paper to my What's …

The Paradox Of Ideology, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A standard problem with the objectivity of social scientific theory in particular is that it is either self-referential, in which case it seems to undermine itself as ideology, or self-excepting, which seem pragmatically self-refuting. Using the example of Marx and his theory of ideology, I show how self-referential theories that include themselves in their scope of explanation can be objective. Ideology may be roughly defined as belief distorted by class interest. I show how Marx thought that natural science was informed by class interest but not therefore necessarily ideology. Capitalists have an interest in understanding the natural world (to a …

Functional Explanation And Metaphysical Individualism, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A number of (present or former) analytical Marxists, such as Jon Elster, have argued that functional explanation has almost no place in the social sciences. (Although the discussion is framed in terms of a debate among analytical Marxists, the point is quite general, and Marxism is used for illustrative purposes.) Functional explanation accounts for what is to be explained by reference to its function; thus, sighted organism have eyes because eyes enable them to see. Elster and other critics of functional explanation argue that this pattern of explanation is inconsistent with "methodological individualism," the idea, as they understand it, that …

Unam, Espejo Del Mejor México Posible: La Universidad En El Contexto Educativo Nacional, Imanol Ordorika, Salvador Martínez Della Rocca

Imanol Ordorika

No abstract provided.