The new spirit of capitalism in European Liberal Arts programs*
Claus J.; Meckel T.; Pätz F.
2018
Educational Philosophy and Theory
4
10.1080/00131857.2017.1341298
The following paper suggests a connection between recent developments in the justification of the capitalist system and contemporary European Liberal Arts programs. By looking at Luc Boltanski’s and Eve Chiapello’s study on The New Spirit Of Capitalism and Gilles Deleuze’s term of societies of control we highlight a pivot within Western societies towards flexibility, creativity and self-fulfillment as essential requirements on the job market. We then link this observation to European Liberal Arts programs and ask to what extent the Liberal Arts’ self-understanding, as it appears at European universities, conforms to this new capitalist imperative. Furthermore, we examine how we experienced these claims during our time as Liberal Arts students. © 2017 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia.
creativity, autonomy and self-responsibility; European Liberal Arts; new spirit of capitalism; societies of control
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