The new spirit of capitalism in European Liberal Arts programs*

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Jakob Claus
  • Thomas Meckel
  • Farina Pätz

The following paper suggests a connection between recent developments in the justification of the capitalist system and contemporary European Liberal Arts programs. By looking at Luc Boltanski’s and Eve Chiapello’s study on The New Spirit Of Capitalism and Gilles Deleuze’s term of societies of control we highlight a pivot within Western societies towards flexibility, creativity and self-fulfillment as essential requirements on the job market. We then link this observation to European Liberal Arts programs and ask to what extent the Liberal Arts’ self-understanding, as it appears at European universities, conforms to this new capitalist imperative. Furthermore, we examine how we experienced these claims during our time as Liberal Arts students.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEducational Philosophy and Theory
Volume50
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1011-1019
Number of pages9
ISSN0013-1857
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19.09.2018

    Research areas

  • creativity, autonomy and self-responsibility, European Liberal Arts, new spirit of capitalism, societies of control
  • Sustainability Science