This paper argues that the neoliberalization of education in England, begun in the 1980s, is having profoundly harmful effects on the lives of individuals and society. Neoliberalism represents a shift away from the post-war social democratic notion of universal "citizenship" rights/identities toward a system of individual consumer rights/identities. In education, neoliberal reforms have exposed state provision to privatization and marketization, and the ideology of the "new managerialism" and its belief in "business" management practices. In this paper, the authors explore the dimensions of and potential resistances to this disenchanting status quo. They begin by outlining the drivers behind the privatization and marketization of education services before then detailing the impact of these changes on the education system (and, as a consequence, society) in England and Wales. This paper largely focuses on developments within the higher education (HE) sector. The authors argue that changes imposed in the name of "efficiency" are leading to the increasing production of uncritical thinkers compliant to the needs of the market, where people are treated as mere "human capital" prepared for "jobs" and where there are increasingly fewer spaces for providing/allowing for the provision of broad-based learning and critical awareness. In setting out an appreciation of these developments the authors draw on the work of Stefan Sullivan (2002) and his thesis on the enduring appeal of Marxism for understanding developments in postindustrial British society--in particular, the tendency towards banality--and means of resisting these.