标题：Book Symposium on James Avis (2015) Social Justice, Transformation and Knowledge: policy, workplace learning and skills. Abingdon/New York Routledge
期刊名称：Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
印刷版ISSN：1740-2743
电子版ISSN：1740-2743
出版年度：2016
卷号：14
期号：1
页码：218
出版社：Institute for Education Policy Studies
摘要：This book, which takes social justice as its analytic lens, makes an important contribution to analyses of the impact of economic and education policy in the neo-liberal context of the early 21 st century. More than a simple critique of neo-liberalism, this book outlines the ways in which different ideological positions, whilst advocating different forms of localism, buy in to concepts of competitiveness, globalisation and the market, arguing that through this buy in, irrespective of their articulated ideological position, all political parties are responsible for the perpetuation of inequality, and all contribute to the (re)production of class and labour. In effect, there is little to choose between them, since all accept neo-liberal concepts as either taken-for-granteds or articles of faith, and the end result of both is the same. Here, Avis makes the important point – which has echoes of Niem.ller's post WW2 statement 'first they came for the socialists' – that agreement with, or support for, neo-liberalism 'is not necessary to condone it – all that is required is that we are unable to envision a 'realistic' alternative' (p. 11). Thus, throughout the book, Avis grapples with the central question of 'what lies beyond neo-liberalism'.
