| Neoliberalism is a term repeatedly used in academe with little understanding to its meaning, historical development, or how it applies power: It is omnisciently hidden in plain sight. Of consequence, in the field of education, neoliberalism is directly associated with the notion of "school choice," specifically as a vehicle for market expansion but also embodying the ethics of profit, competition, and globalization. For some, school choice and the free market are often referred to as "a panacea" for educational ills, and to better understand this phenomenon, this dissertation utilizes historical research with a genealogical lens to identify neoliberal origins, strategies, and translations from its "zero points" to the contemporary period. In short, the dissertation tells the story of neoliberalism as an idea and the apparatus which marked its victory in the field of education while proposing a new ethos for schools and classrooms.;The dissertation also identifies neoliberalism's structural and relational abilities to governance, all comprised in a series of campaigns waged in an ideological "battle of ideas." The result was an impressive array of international, national, and state networks all purporting a utopic market end, often with the public school in mind. Hence, this dissertation identifies how neoliberalism was manufactured as a school governance vehicle both in the United States and in the state of Arizona. Central to the research of these questions is Nietzsche's genealogical method of ideological interrogation and Foucault's archeology of thought, accompanied by Actor-Network theory and network methodology. By applying these various methodologies, the dissertation identifies how - as a discourse, via policy, and with certain actors - markets were directly infused into the public school domain.;The Colloque Walter Lippmann in 1937 and the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947 are cited as key origins in understanding contemporary neoliberalism. Yet, the definition of neoliberalism proposed during these time periods remains obscure to many in the field of education: government as a juridical citadel that protects and promotes the market from democratic infringement. This definition of government has significant repercussions for the public school overall. Friedrich Hayek and others are identified as the authors of this new governance model while championing a "battle of ideas" to bring the theory to reality. However, Milton Friedman is identified as the unique proselytizer for neoliberalism that delivered a positive, utopic vision for markets as the guarantor of equity, democracy, and freedom. Friedman was also the first to propose the neoliberal vision to the American school.;Over time, a new common sense was created: for one to be free, parents had to be free to choose their school via a market mechanism. The neoliberal idea of government auditing a free school-market order was packaged and marketed via the think tank apparatus, constructing and perpetuating the idea/logic slowly, but deliberately to the public masses through an array of media and other means. Simultaneously, policy was a prime strategy by the neoliberal apparatus, fully understanding that policy creates meta-governmentality, and meta-governmentality situates the world in which one lives. As a negative externality, the dissertation concludes that a neoliberal apparatus is not only incrementally privatizing the public domain, but that a neoliberal ethos is creating a new, hidden curriculum in schools. |
