Societies all over the world are undergoing profound transformations, two if which are digitalization and economization. Not only does there seem to be a relative simultaneity, but also both processes accelerate each other. Against the background of neo-institutionalist’s philosophy of history (Meyer; DiMaggio & Powell) a certain confluence and thus homogeneity within at least the western world in the upcoming decades is to be expected.
While there is a legitimate sociological interest in describing these changes, I am more interested in the underlying conditions that underlie the mutual fomentation of digitization and economization. At the example of education policy, I want to present a suggestion on how to analytically grasp the interplay between digital and economic transformations. I want to discuss underpinnings that seem to be crucial for their seamless confluence.
These are:
a) The assumption of and approximation to fungibility as fundamental necessity for the transformation of practices and logics,
b) The forcing of transactionality as a concept of sociality that reduces social interaction to a form of barter,
c) The binarization of thinking and problem solving, thereby the undermining of differentiating and disambiguating discourse.
I will present examples within the abovementioned field of education policy. In particular, I would like to address the role of supranational organisations and foundations as facilitators of both transformations and, for the sake of the argument, offer a contrasting perspective.
It is crucial to discuss these matters in a comparative perspective, which is why I would like to invite the audience to a broad discussion on their view on this—be it within education policy or other fields, wherein national and international policies, laws, solutions come into play.
Dr. Buck's lecture is an initiative of the ENCODE research group at ISK/HSL.