Neoliberalism and the Preservation of the Dominant Hegemony

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Jacqueline Maley on August 30, 2013 describes an account of Ms. Bronwyn Bishop, MP, declaring she didn’t wish for her electorate, that of the high socioeconomic demography of the Northern Beaches of Sydney, to have similar educational standards as that of Tasmania. The ambition for this post is not to denounce her point of view, rather understand it, using Apple’s (1996) Cultural Politics and Education.

The Liberal party has often declared a war on the Labor Party and its inefficiency at almost all levels of governing the country – however, each party has not cultivated much educational rhetoric in the face of the election. Nevertheless, what underpins this declaration by Ms. Bishop is her neoliberal perspective towards the privatisation of school, or rather by the neoliberal perspective, the autonomy of educational institutions.

When a member of the audience asked whether she [Ms. Bishop] wanted her electorate schools to equal Tasmania’s regarding educational results, Ms. Bishop replied, “no, thank you.” But, the question must be asked: what is wrong with Tasmania’s educational system? Or perhaps the better question is; what is Ms. Bishop attempting to contain within the educational standards of her electorate?

I move to Apple for a response. Apple declares that the white hegemony that dictates schools are essentially exploitative – neoliberal capitalism must have winners and losers. Then, evidently, Ms. Bishop wishes to contain the winning ways of the Northern Beaches exclusively.

The repercussion of this is Ms. Bishop’s neoliberal perspective towards the “distribution of wealth. That inequality is a good thing and more inequality is an even better thing” (Apple, 1996, p. 9). Ms. Bishop implicitly states her commitment towards the preservation, maintenance and continuation of the dominant hegemony within the Australian educational spectrum. The New Right is evident within Ms. Bishop, and her protection of the distribution of not only wealth, but also the educational standards and expectations of students within her electorate. The agenda Ms. Bishop argues is interesting, not due to her market –driven goals as such, but rather her wish to maintain the class, race, gender and demographic superiority of her Northern Beaches electorate – the maintenance of the dominant and dominated distinction.

This leads me to the neoliberal vision of character and, as Apple argues, the expectation of ambition, for the drive to leave behind the circumstances of the localized status quo. Ms. Bishop shows that her clear preference is neither the Australian people as a whole, nor the social mobility of those less fortunate, but the maintenance of the current and debilitating unrighteous equity and equality in Australian schools – Ms. Bishop guards the Old Way, and not for the common good. “Class dynamics are clear” (Apple, 1996, p. 12) – why change them?

References:

  

Maley, J. (2013, August 30) Bronwyn Bishop says Gonski reforms will ‘dumb down schools. Retrieved from: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/bronwyn-bishop-says-gonski-reforms-will-dumb-down-schools-20130830-2sw1z.html

Apple, M. W. (1996). Cultural Politics and Education. New York: Teachers College. Chapter 1.