Beautiful and sublime: the aesthetics of running in a commodified world

In the United States, running as a leisure activity continues to grow in popularity. Healthism can explain some of this popularity, but it does not explain ultradistance running. Motivations for running can be seen through the framework of the Kantian beautiful and the sublime. Beauty arises through extrinsic motivation (e.g. products, physique, competition) and relates to an economy of form, while the sublime arises through intrinsic motivation (e.g. life meaning) and relates to confronting the challenge of infinity. The commercial, casual, and competitive aspects of distance running correspond to the beautiful, while its wilderness, serious, ultradistance aspects correspond to the sublime. This framework is used to explain the resistance of ultrarunning to the would-be detrimental effects of commodification, as well as ultrarunning’s ‘wild turn.’     

Just Another Tool? IT Pedagogy and the Commodification of Education

This article investigates the social relations being produced through the incorporation of information technology (IT) into educational practices. Drawing upon field research with the Los Angeles public school system, the article analyzes social relations in three technology classrooms, discusses gender and ethnic inequalities with technology, and documents the kinds of educational technology programs that teachers and administrators find valuable. Rather than IT being an apolitical tool, these examples illustrate how technologies operate within larger ideological systems, linking students and public institutions intimately with globalization processes of privatization and commodification. In conclusion, an alternative framework for technology pedagogy is introduced, one that confronts the politics of technology by perceiving information technologies as social media rather than simple tools.Torin Monahan is the author of the forthcoming book Globalization, Technological Change, and Public Education (Routledge, 2005). He is Assistant Professor of Justice & Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. With training in the .eld of science and technology studies (STS), his scholarly research focuses on the design of information technology infrastructures and their associated political and social rami.cations. He conducts ethnographic research on telecommunication networks in schools, surveillance and biometrics systems in public places, and the techno-spatial transformation of cities. Address correspondence to Torin Monahan, Arizona State University, School of Justice & Social Inquiry; e-mail: torin.monahan@asu.edu.     

The Problem of a Market-oriented University

Economy- and technology-driven theories dominate current explanations of social change. The political orientations of the European Union and many of its member states are increasingly based on the idea of knowledge economy where public organisations move towards market-orientation. Among the other producers of knowledge, universities are expected to become part of the innovation system where innovation stands for product making and the final goal is to contribute to the international competitiveness of the national economy. This study focuses on the complicated role of public universities as adaptors of market forces logic. The focus of attention is on the reorientations that Finnish universities have made in terms of commodification. At the same time universities have elaborated new aggressive strategies in order to strengthen their scientific basis and to distance themselves from the demands for new managerialism. One of the key problems in this process is related to the difficulties to integrate the two traditional university functions into the third one, i.e. commercialisation. We make some observations concerning EU policies, but concentrate mostly on changes that have taken place during recent decades in Finland by analysing market-orientation in three Helsinki area universities. In the context of current technology policy, all disciplines have been seen as potential contributors to market competition. However, social sciences produce knowledge that cannot be classified by using pure economic concepts. To sharpen our analysis of market-orientation we study three social science departments at the respective three universities. This analysis indicates the importance of scientific identity as a component of market-orientation. It also shows the importance of contextual issues and the tensions that arise between scientific and commercial orientations.     

‘It’s not the test,it’s how it’s used!’ Critical analysis of public response to NAPLAN and MySchool Senate Inquiry

Public education is commonly perceived as a social good endowed with the capacity to equalise western citizens’ chance of ‘success’. In 2008 Australia introduced standardised testing and reporting procedures to improve educational quality and equity through two policy tools (NAPLAN/MySchool). Ensuing public debate culminated in two Senate Inquiries. Qualitative critical analysis of all (N = 268) submissions to Inquiry One evidenced two major themes: marketisation and data (mis)use; and competition, commodification and practice. Marketisation’s hegemony shaped discourse and recommendations, with institutions and individuals promoting/engaging in self-aggrandising performance-driven activities seeking market advantage, often whilst simultaneously objecting. Submissions largely opposed MySchool and supported NAPLAN despite detailing maladaptive impacts and recommending changes. Drawing upon Latour, we suggest actors’ interactions with these tools (re)produced and re-enacted marketisation principles. Where marketisation, commodification or political rhetoric drives educational change, one ought to be cautious authentic approaches are not truncated by stakeholders lacking legitimate means to compete for resources or social status.     

The hollowed-out university? A critical analysis of changing institutional and academic norms in UK higher education

This article argues that UK universities are at risk from a process of ‘hollowing out’ – that is, of becoming institutions with no distinctive social role and no ethical raison d'etre – and that this is a process which undermines the possibilities for meaningful institutional and academic identities. It begins with a condensed, and necessarily partial, review of recent UK higher education policy trends to indicate the historical context and direction of change and to highlight the growing separation of management and academic agendas and the linked rise in gloss and spin compared to academic substance. In the remainder of this article we focus on the normative dimension of these changes and unpack their implications for the nature of the university and of academic work. In so doing, we illustrate the breadth and depth of the threat posed by ‘hollowed-out’ universities, indicate alternative, more positive currents and call for a ‘re-valuation’ of the UK university.     

Social life for sale! A critical discourse analysis of the concept of student life on Danish university websites

This paper aims to investigate the marketization of higher education (HE) as it manifests itself in the concept of Student life on Danish HE websites. Taking Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis as its starting point, this paper critically examines this particular practice of marketization by making a single-case study of the pages called Student life at the biggest university in Denmark, Copenhagen University (CU). The findings show that these page elements of social life are intensively and routinely used to soften up the more demanding aspects of being a university student, and that this involves a significant positive evaluation of life as a university student. The paper addresses the potential problems related to the findings in order to contribute to further discussion and reflection upon issues centred around the marketization of HE on university websites and around the construction of what it means to be a student today.