A volume in Studies in the Philosophy of Education
Series Editor John E. Petrovic, The University of Alabama
In this book, Baez examines a series of governmental "technologies" that he
believes strongly characterize our present. The technologies that he addresses in
this book are information, statistics, databases, economy, and accountability. He
offers arguments about the role these technologies play in contemporary politics.
Specifically, Baez analyzes these technologies in terms of (the sometimes
oppositional) rationalities for rendering reality thinkable, and, consequently,
governable. These technologies bear on the field of education, but also exceed it.
So, while issues in education frame many of the arguments in this book, the book's also has usefulness to those
outside of field of education.
Specifically, Baez concludes that the governmental technologies listed above all are coopted by neoliberal
rationalities rendering our lives thinkable and governable through an array of devices for the management of risk,
using the model of the economy, and heavily investing in the uses of information, statistics, databases, and
oversight mechanisms associated with accountability. Baez leaves readers
with more questions than they might have had prior to reading the book, so
that they may re-imagine their own present and future and thus their own
forms of self-government.