Ratings and Rankings in Higher Education - A New-Materialist Exploration of How They Control Society (Hardcover)

This important work critically investigates the use of rating and ranking systems in higher education to show how they govern the academic population through the creation of competition and antagonism. From social media to PISA and Rotten Tomatoes, ratings and rankings exist everywhere in our daily lives. Seemingly benign in practice, they can structure and govern important parts of society, including social interaction, public health and economic rankings. In this essential critique, author Jonas Thiel sets out the case against these practices, using the UK's higher education model to show how tools such as the National Student Surveys (NSS) instead divide the academic population to make it governable and controllable. Instead of achieving its intended aim of improving teaching by forcing competition over student satisfaction, Thiel shows that systems like the NSS have a profound and often negative impact upon how people and institutions understand themselves. Drawing on the new materialist theory of Karen Barad, Foucault's governmentality and Laclau's understanding of antagonism, the book raises an urgent need to respond to these boundary-drawing practices, especially in light of rising inequality and ecological collapse, and poses the question: can we even imagine a world without 'Top 10' rankings and 'out of 5' scores? Engaging with current debates around 'value', tuition fees and the role of higher education in society, this is fascinating reading for advanced students and academics in psychology, education, sociology and philosophy.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Concepts for Critical Psychology
Release date:	June 2022
First published:	2022
Authors:	Jonas Thiel
Dimensions:	216 x 138mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	150
ISBN-13:	978-0-367-41754-3
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Philosophy & theory of psychology > General Books > Social sciences > Education > Higher & further education > General
LSN:	0-367-41754-5
Barcode:	9780367417543

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!