Revisions to rationality: the translation of ‘new knowledges’ into policy under the Coalition Government

TY - JOUR

T1 - Revisions to rationality

T2 - the translation of ‘new knowledges’ into policy under the Coalition Government

AU - McGimpsey, Ian

AU - Bradbury, Alice

AU - Santori, Diego

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - This article gives an account of the use of knowledges from emerging scientific fields in education and youth policy making under the Coalition government (2010–15) in the UK. We identify a common process of ‘translation’ and offer three illustrations of policy-making in the UK that utilise diverse knowledges produced in academic fields (neuroscience, network theory and well-being). This production of ‘new knowledges’ in policy contexts allows for the identification of sites of policy intervention. This process of translation underlies a series of diverse revisions of the rational subject of policy. Collectively, these revisions amount to a change in policy-making and the emergence of a different subject of neoliberal policy. This subject is not an excluded alterity to an included rational subject of neoliberalism, but a ‘plastic subject’ characterised by its multiplicity. The plastic subject does not contradict the rational subject as central to neoliberal policy-making, but diversifies it.

AB - This article gives an account of the use of knowledges from emerging scientific fields in education and youth policy making under the Coalition government (2010–15) in the UK. We identify a common process of ‘translation’ and offer three illustrations of policy-making in the UK that utilise diverse knowledges produced in academic fields (neuroscience, network theory and well-being). This production of ‘new knowledges’ in policy contexts allows for the identification of sites of policy intervention. This process of translation underlies a series of diverse revisions of the rational subject of policy. Collectively, these revisions amount to a change in policy-making and the emergence of a different subject of neoliberal policy. This subject is not an excluded alterity to an included rational subject of neoliberalism, but a ‘plastic subject’ characterised by its multiplicity. The plastic subject does not contradict the rational subject as central to neoliberal policy-making, but diversifies it.

U2 - 10.1080/01425692.2016.1202747

DO - 10.1080/01425692.2016.1202747

M3 - Article

SN - 0142-5692

VL - 38

SP - 908

EP - 925

JO - British Journal of Sociology of Education

JF - British Journal of Sociology of Education

IS - 6

ER -