When learning becomes a fetish: the pledge, turn and prestige of magic tricks

TY - JOUR

T1 - When learning becomes a fetish: the pledge, turn and prestige of magic tricks

AU - Bainbridge, Alan

AU - Gaitanidis, Anastasios

AU - Hoult, Elizabeth

PY - 2017/11/16

Y1 - 2017/11/16

N2 - It is our contention that the process of higher education could be read as a commodity and in both Marxian and Freudian assumptions, a fetish. Instrumental in this discussion are Marx’s theorising of the commodity fetish (1867) that deceives by conflating the distinction between use and exchange value, and Freud’s (1927) re-visiting of his theory of fetishism, where he considers the fetish in the context of dealing with separation and loss in everyday life. This paper highlights how the consequence of fetishised behaviour has led to violent outcomes, such as the policy decision to introduce a ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ (TEF). We argue that the TEF may bring about the death of learning in HE and diminish the role of academic staff. Nevertheless, influenced by Winnicott, Cixous and Biesta, we offer a more hopeful ‘Teaching that is Good Enough Framework’.© 2017, Taylor & Francis. The attached document (embargoed until 16/04/2019) is an author produced version of a paper published in Pedagogy, Culture & Society, uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link below. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it.

AB - It is our contention that the process of higher education could be read as a commodity and in both Marxian and Freudian assumptions, a fetish. Instrumental in this discussion are Marx’s theorising of the commodity fetish (1867) that deceives by conflating the distinction between use and exchange value, and Freud’s (1927) re-visiting of his theory of fetishism, where he considers the fetish in the context of dealing with separation and loss in everyday life. This paper highlights how the consequence of fetishised behaviour has led to violent outcomes, such as the policy decision to introduce a ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ (TEF). We argue that the TEF may bring about the death of learning in HE and diminish the role of academic staff. Nevertheless, influenced by Winnicott, Cixous and Biesta, we offer a more hopeful ‘Teaching that is Good Enough Framework’.© 2017, Taylor & Francis. The attached document (embargoed until 16/04/2019) is an author produced version of a paper published in Pedagogy, Culture & Society, uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link below. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it.

KW - Fetish

KW - Commodity Fetishism

KW - Higher Education

KW - Teaching

KW - Learning

KW - TEF

U2 - 10.1080/14681366.2017.1403950

DO - 10.1080/14681366.2017.1403950

M3 - Article

SN - 1468-1366

JO - Pedagogy, Culture and Society

JF - Pedagogy, Culture and Society

ER -