Globalization, Neoliberalism and Pluralinguism

Globalization, Neoliberalism and Pluralinguism

1. Globalization

   • Globalization as a historical phenomenon refers to three simultaneous processes: migration, spread of ideas, and increased coordination and interdependence (Tilly, 2004, p.13).
   • A process in which technologies and languages have played a central role (Watson, 2004).
   • The current wave of globalization in relation with education systems is studied from three main perspectives: economic, political, and cultural (Suarez- Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004)
     • Economic
       • Globalization and education are investigated in their relation with international markets, transnational trade, neoliberalism, privatization, financial issues, transnational capital flow, poverty, economic development, inequity, and the different economic agendas that serve the consolidation of private capital and the knowledge economy
         • It has changed the way we interact with other individuals.
           • It has introduced a new set of values and discourses in terms of: capital, market,profit,competitiveness, property,accountability,trade,industrialization, individual choice.
     • Political
       • Analysts explore the connection between globalization, power relations, notions of autonomy, top-down vs bottom-up models of reform, and the transformation of the state and the school system vis-à-vis the increasing influence of local and international actors, agencies, and countries that exert power in areas traditionally controlled by the government.
     • Cultural
       • Investigators study cultural formations, transformations, and conflicts brought about by the media, technology, immigration, and dissemination of languages, discourses and practices. They study how local agents and communities are influenced by these moves, how language and school policies are affected by these transnational flows, and how different actors reinterpret these global trends.

2. Neoliberalism

   • Points of view
     • Political
       • “the ideology behind globalization in the 1990s” (Munck, 2005, p.121)
       • It is based on classical views of individual choice, freedom, personal property, and competitiveness, combined with contemporary calls for state intervention in order to guarantee the normal functioning of the global market and the accumulation of private capital (Robertson, 2007)
   • Neoliberalism, then, is the merging of macro-level policy shifts and the individual-level production of subjects to fit these political and eco nomic changes.
   • Neoliberalism is not simply about the corporatization of society but also the corporatization of the individual subject.

3. Pluralingualism

   • Plurilingual and pluricultural competence is the ability to use lan guages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercul tural action, where a person, viewed as a social agent, has proficiency of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cul tures. It is not seen as a juxtaposition of distinct competences, but as a single competence, even though it is complex. (p. 10)
   • Being plurilingual does not mean mastering a large number of languages to a high level, but acquiring the ability to use more than one linguistic variety to degrees (which are not necessarily identical) for different purposes (conversation, reading or writing, etc.).