Heidegger argues that modern technology is quantifiably different from all earlier periods because of a shift in ethos from in situ craftwork to globalised production and storage at the behest of consumerism. He argues that this shift in technology has fundamentally shaped our epistemology, and it is almost impossible to comprehend anything…

In the year that George Ritzer publishes the ninth edition of "The McDonaldization of Society," moving his famous theory firmly "Into the Digital Age," critical educator Petar Jandric and sociologist Sarah Hayes invited George to a dialogue on the digital transformation of McDonaldization and its critical application to Higher…

This article argues that the concept of rationality is undergoing significant revision in UK education policy-making, influenced by developments in several academic fields. This article focuses on the take up of behavioural economics in policy as one aspect of this revision of the concept of rationality, discussing how this has happened and its…

While there is a whole field devoted to the widely esteemed enterprise of epistemology, until fairly recently much less attention has been given to "agnotology," the study of ignorance. Epistemologists of ignorance use the concept agnotology to signify the study of the making and unmaking of ignorance, as well as the task of…

In an Editorial in "Times Higher Education" (2009) extensive comment was given on the work of Furedi (2009) on the culture of complaint and the application to higher education of the consumer model. The discussion included many apparently strong criticisms of this use of the consumer model. "Higher Education Review" has itself published articles…

In this essay Amy Shuffelton considers Jean-Jacques Rousseau's suspicion of imagination, which is, paradoxically, offered in the context of an imaginative construction of a child's upbringing. First, Shuffelton articulates Rousseau's reasons for opposing children's development of imagination and their engagement in the sort of imaginative play…

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama lamented America's failure to keep pace with other industrialized nations and challenged the country to regain its mantle as the worldwide leader in postsecondary attainment. Accomplishing this goal requires not only greater access to postsecondary education, but higher…

Reflecting two students views on this summers riots, Tom Young locates the riots as a symptom of 20th century consumerism. Tracing the historical development of public relations and advertising with the rise of one of the 20th century's least known and most influential figures "Eddy Bernays", he asks the question--who's really to blame…

Economics is a two-faced discipline. It claims to be a science, describing the world without preconception or value judgment. The reality is that descriptive economics has been shaped by a framework of assumptions geared more to its normative message than to its pretensions. The self-interested individual--who rationally calculates how to achieve…

In Shadish (2010) and West and Thoemmes (2010), the authors contrasted 2 approaches to causality. The first originated in the psychology literature and is associated with work by Campbell (e.g., Shadish, Cook, & Campbell, 2002), and the second has its roots in the statistics literature and is associated with work by Rubin (e.g., Rubin, 2006). In…

The story of Bernard Madoff rivals outrageous fiction. It was astonishing that this seemingly kindly, respectable financier, a pioneer in electronic trading, a founding partner in the Nasdaq exchange, turned out to have been running a $65-billion Ponzi scheme that victimized country-club elites, middle-class retirees, foundations, universities,…

If educators want to discover how they can engage students as well as themselves in the 21st century, they must move beyond skills and technologies. They must explore the interconnected social media literacies of (1) attention; (2) participation; (3) cooperation; (4) network awareness; and (5) critical consumption. In this article, the author…

In this article I call for adult educators to begin taking consumption seriously as a site of adult learning and education. I provide an overview of various sociological perspectives on consumption, and also discuss several areas where education, learning, and consumption intersect. In doing so, I seek to convince adult educators to more…

Real-estate markets are almost as volatile as stock markets. Prices of agricultural land, of commercial real estate, and of homes and condominiums have gone through a series of huge bubbles, as if people never learned from the previous ones. Such events--in particular the recent housing bubble--are driven by what John Maynard Keynes called animal…

This article explores the issues facing practitioners working in the field of student complaints and appeals (including academic appeals). It is a reflective study which examines some general and historical issues, using anonymised case studies where appropriate and highlighting the diversity of practice across the sector. The author observes that…