Illusory Freedoms: Liberalism, Education and the Market

Part I:. Reordering Society: Reforming Education: .

1.1 Education and politics in a changing social order.

1.2 From consensus to contestation in a neutralist framework.

1.3 Education and preferences; a paradox?.

1.4 The re-forming of education.

1.5 Conclusion.

Part II: Reform: Rhetoric, Rationale and Representation:.

2.1 Privatising the public sphere: rationale and rhetoric.

2.2 The virtues of the market.

2.3 A suitable case for treatment: persuasion and plausibility.

2.4 Conclusion.

Part III: Educational 'Goods': Value and Benefit:.

3.1 Public project: private aspirations.

3.2 Conflicting aspirations: public benefit and private reward.

3.3 The value of educational 'goods'.

3.4 Conclusion.

Part IV: Rights and Choices:.

4.1 The power of 'rights talk'.

4.2 Rights to education: beneficiaries of education.

4.3 Parents' rights and consumer rights.

4.4 The good of each, of all and of none.

4.5 Conclusion.

Part V: Freedom and the Individual:.

5.1 From practice to theory.

5.2 Liberty and equality.

5.3 The 'two concepts of liberty' debate.

5.4 'Thick' and 'thin' conceptions of equality.

5.5 Liberty, equality and equity.

5.6 Conclusion.

Part VI: The Self and Its Preferences: .

6.1 How 'individual' is individual freedom?.

6.2 Individuals and their attributes: talents and abilities.

6.3 Understandings, tastes and values.

6.3 The family, the state and the individual.

6.4 Autonomy and individualism.

6.5 The social distribution of freedom.

6.6 Conclusion.

Part VII: Liberalism and Liberal Education:.

7.1 Neo-liberalism and education.

7.2 Liberal education: problems of theory and practice.

7.3 Liberal theory revisited.

7.4 Re-forming education; theory and practice.

7.5 Conclusion.