This book presents a critique of neoliberalism within UK Higher Education, taking its cue from approaches more usually associated with literary studies. It offers a sustained and detailed close reading of three works that might be understood to fall outside the established body of educational theory. The unconventional methodology and focus promote irreducible difference and complexity, and in this stage a resistance to reductive discourses of managerialism. Questioning the materialism to which all sides of the contemporary pedagogical debate increasingly appeal, the book sets out a challenge to investments in 'excellence', 'transparency' and objecthood. It will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of education, sociology, and literary theory.

Offers a new approach to higher education discourse by analysing through a lens of literary criticism Interrogates current assumptions on the state of higher education Suggests how contemporary higher education can avoid the snares of managerialism

Autorentext

Neil Cocks is Lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Reading, UK. His research interests include nineteenth century literature, children's literature, psychoanalysis, and visual culture.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction: Transparency and Objecthood.- Chapter 2. '[] not much like a grove []': Openness, Object, and Agora in 'The Lecherous Professor Revisited' by Diane Purkiss.- Chapter 3. Therapy and its Discontents: Bullying, Freedom and Self-Evidence in 'The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education' by Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes.- Chapter 4. New-Managerial Ontology: Materiality, Vision and Disclosure in 'Non-Representational Theory' by Nigel Thrift.