Minnesota Workforce Development, Neoliberalism and Critical Thinking

The “Roll Over” and Potential “Roll Under” Phase of Neoliberalism:  Critical Thinking as a Workforce Development Strategy

ABSTRACT

Under the increasingly dominant hegemonic ideology of neoliberalism, workforce development training policies at the national level have increasingly focused on worker educational efforts supporting locally specific industrial clusters.  An examination of current workforce development training policies, and discourses of the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council (GWDC), the inspiration for the national Workforce Investment Act (WIA), indicates an emphasis on increasing the scale of workforce development training into realms outside of the normal perview of such policies.  This “Roll Over” phase/space of neoliberalism advocates increasing the range of workforce development training beyond the traditional scale of the unemployed, and including K-12 education as well as college and university subsidies for occupations deemed worthy by the GWDC based on the industrial cluster model. 

            Alternative workforce development strategies have been put forward focusing on  training for occupations rather than industrial clusters.  Markusen suggests creative occupations within the arts have benefits for an entire regions economy. Florida goes further to claim that all areas must compete for such creative workers or face economic stagnation.  Such discourses open up a space for a more even Gramscian workforce development policy outside of the traditional win/lose scenario of neo-smokestack chasing, and ostensibly in a neoliberal guise.  This “Roll Under” phase/space of neoliberalism advocates for an increased emphasis on critical thinking in all education due to its potential beneficial effects on a regions economy from increased worker innovation and workplace creativity.  Further, training in critical thinking has the potential for benefits outside of the economic. 

            KEYWORDS:  Neoliberalism, Workforce, Critical Thinking

The “Roll Over” and Potential “Roll Under” Phase of Neoliberalism:  Critical Thinking as a Workforce Development Strategy

By D. Tyler McKay

“In the final analysis, we cannot talk our way out of poverty; we cannot legislate our way out of poverty, but this nation can work its way out of poverty.  What American needs now is not more welfare, but more “workfare.”  (President Richard Nixon, televised speech, August 1969; quoted in Nathan, 1986: 107. and in Peck, 2001: 90)

AN INTRODUCTION TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

On May 8^th of 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment and Adult Education Act.  The measure, which passed 220-204 on a highly partisan vote, is part of the reauthorization of the 1998 Workforce Investment Act, which provides $6.6 billion in job training programs and services to more than 19 million people through One-Stop Career Centers. The chief sponsor of the bill, Rep. Buck McKeon R-Calif, stated “With hundreds of thousands of Americans searching for new jobs, we must take action to strengthen job training opportunities for American workers, (Committee on Education and Workforce, April 9, 2003) Bush administration officials say their plan “transforms bureaucratic, ineffective job training programs into targeted, flexible funding to meet specific needs of communities and employers.” According to committee chairman Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the legislation seeks to provide unemployed workers “with the tools, the training and the resources to help them find what they really want – meaningful employment” (U.S. Department of Labor, 4/30/03).

This bill replaces specific training programs for certain populations of jobless workers with block grants, which, can be used at the states discretion in job training programs for both unemployed and employed residents.  The goals are to provide “enhanced employment, retention, and earnings of individuals, increased occupational skills attainment, and improved national economic growth through increased productivity and competitiveness.” (U.S. Department of Labor, 4/9/03) The bill specifically stresses, “enhancing the role of employers” (U.S. Department of Labor, 3/13/03) Rep. McKeon is quoted as describing the change, from the former programs, as “Improving these programs by strengthening partnerships and eliminating waste and inefficiency” They state that the previous programs “contributed to the growth of a confusing patchwork at the state and local level.  Governors and state and local officials need the flexibility to target these resources toward the unique needs of their communities” (U.S. Department of Labor, 4/30/03). 

Bush administration Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao stated, “We look forward to working with all members of the education and Workforce Committee to continue to transform and further integrate the One-Stop Career Center delivery system into a cohesive and demand-driven workforce investment system.  We share the goal of improving the system to better respond to the changing needs of workers, business and the demands of our new economy.  Together, we will work to improve links with the private sector and with post-secondary education and economic development systems to prepare the 21^st century workforce for career opportunities in high-growth sectors” (U.S. Department of Labor.  3/13/03).

Strangely, the same press release describing the benefits of this bill also try to quicken passage by apparently pointing to its failure.  Although the One-Stop Career Centers were approved back in 1998, the “unemployment rate now stands at 5.8%” while “the unemployment rate was only 4% as recently as 2000 (U.S. Department of Labor.  3/13/03).  The reason for this apparent contradiction lies in the fact that this legislation is based on the specific dominant hegemonic ideology of neoliberalism rather than its apparent practical benefits.  Neoliberal ideology has been described as, “the belief that open, competitive and unregulated markets, liberated from all forms of state interference, represent the optimal mechanism for economic development” (Brenner, N. and Theodore, M., 2002, p. 350).

Using language such as “the changing needs of our workforce” or “prepare the 21^st century workforce” are attempts to make the new workforce training strategies appear to be inevitable, to construct a view of reality offering only the authors solutions to the authors posed questions.  Simply asserting that previous programs, which apparently led to a 4% unemployment rate, as out dated and ineffectual appears to be a clear act of ideology over objective reality.  Although there are a wide range of ways workforce training could be changed, stressing the need for “meeting the specific needs of communities and employers”, “increased productivity and competitiveness” and “cohesive and demand-driven” are all language choices which make vase assumptions that a “worker” considers “meaningful employment” that which can benefit the employers and the state. (U.S. Department of Labor.  3/13/03)

By looking at the specific case of workforce development training in Minnesota, the very case which inspired the above national workforce development practices and discourse, I will demonstrate how the dominant hegemonic ideology of neoliberalism reproduces itself through legislation and through non-governmental institutions promoting neoliberal goals. I will first summarize some useful conceptualizations of Gramsci, which will further illuminate the interactions of workforce development policy in public and private institutions.  I will then perform a critique of the mainstream workforce development theories and polices with the aim of developing a new workforce development paradigm, a paradigm that has the potential for awakening a critical awareness of the very ways our workers are managed and funneled into very specific occupations and industries.  

HEGEMONY

In Selections from the “Prison Notebooks”, Gramsci describes how the state forms a political hegemonic power.  “If every State tends to create and maintain a certain type of civilization and of citizen (and hence of collective life and individual relations), and to eliminate certain customs and attitudes and to disseminate others, then the Law will be its instrument for this purpose (together with the school system, and other institutions and activities).”  (Gramsci, 1990. p. 246)  In this way, the state disciplines its citisens through positive and negative forms of sanction.  Leaders hold a balance between various interests of “civil society” in a hegemonic form, moving the state in one political direction while containing elements of its more “traditional” past.  In “The Study of Philosophy” Gramsci describes how various philosophies of conceptions of the world exist for individuals to choose from.  A vanguard that uses repetition to publicize arguments and produces elites of intellectuals can have a great effect on these choices.  (Sassoon, 1989)

 Hegemony has been defined, in the strictly Gramscian sense, as “a social condition in which all aspects of social reality are dominated by or supportive of a single class” (quoted in Mayo 1999). These aspects of social life are made acceptable to people through the exercise of influence and the winning of consent.  This involves a process of learning.  For Gramsci, every relationship of hegemony is essentially an educational one.  The agencies that engage in this educational relationship are the institutions forming civil society, constituting the cultural bedrock of power.  Gramsci argues that, in Western society, the state is surrounded and propped up by networks of ideological social institutions, which form civil society.  As such, social institutions like schools and other educational establishments are not neutral.  They serve to cement the existing hegemony and are therefore intimately tied to the interests of the most powerful social groups.  (Mayo, 1999)

For Gramsci, hegemony is characterized by a number of spaces for counter-hegemonic activity.  It has a non-static nature, is constantly open to negotiation and renegotiation.  Hegemony is therefore to being renewed and re-created.  It is also incomplete, and there exist moments wherein the whole process undergoes a crisis.  There are also excluded areas of social life that can constitute a terrain of contestation for people involved in counter-hegemonic activities.  The terrain wherein hegemony can be contested is the very terrain that supports it, namely that of civil society, which is conceived of as a site of struggle (Sasoon, 1989).

He argued that, because it is propped up by the institutions of civil society, the state cannot be confronted head-on by those aspiring to transform it in order to develop a new set of social relations.  Gramsci refers to that kind of confrontation as a “war of maneuver”.  The process of transforming precedes the seizure of power.  People working for social transformation had to engage in a “war of position”, a process of wide-ranging social organization and cultural influence.  It is through this process that the group creates, together with other groups and sectors of society, a historical bloc, the term Gramsci uses to describe the complex manner in which classes and their factions are related.  “Every revolution has been preceded by an intense labor of criticism, by the diffusion of culture and the spread of ideas among masses of men who are at first resistant and think only of solving their own immediate economic and political problems for themselves who have no ties of solidarity with others in the same condition” (quoted in Mayo, 1999).

In Gramsci’s view, the agents who play a pivotal role in the ‘war of position’ are the intellectuals.  Intellectuals are of two types.  First, are the “great intellectuals” whose purpose is to preserve the status quo.  To this end, they help fashion a cultural climate commensurate with the hegemonic group’s interests.  The second type is the “subaltern intellectuals”, such as teachers, priests, or functionaries, who by and large, work in favor of the prevailing political system (Sassoon, 1989).

Another kind of intellectuals are the “organic intellectuals”, who emerge in response to particular historical developments, as opposed to traditional intellectuals whose “organic” purpose is over as society enters a different state of development.  If they are organic to the dominant class/group, they serve to mediate the ideological and political unity of the existing hegemony.  Alternatively, if they are organic to the subordinated group or class aspiring to power, they engage in the “war of position” that enables it to secure the alliances necessary to succeed.  If they are organic to the subaltern group, part of the task is to contribute to an “intellectual and moral reform” which Gramsci felt was necessary in his native Italy to lay the foundations for a socially more just society (Mayo, 1999).

NEOLIBERALISM

Currently, the dominant hegemonic practices and discourse is that of neoliberalism.  In, “Workers in a lean world”, Kim Moody describes neoliberalism as “…a mixture of neoclassical economic fundamentalism, market regulation in place of state guidance, economic redistribution in favor of capital (known as supply-side economics) moral authoritarianism with an idealized family at its center” Further, she states, “What distanced neoliberalism most from the older pragmatic conservatism, was that it was highly ideological; that is, market-based policies were carried out because a very abstract, idealized economic doctrine said they should be.  Neoliberal ideology attributes to the market almost mystical powers to cleanse the sick world economy” (1997: 119-120). 

Peck and Tickell add, “while rhetorically antistatist, neoliberals have proved adept at the (mis) use of state power in the pursuit of these goals” (2002: 389).  After two decades, the global hegemony of this mode of political rationality appears all encompassing, as the “common sense” of our time.  Brenner distinguishes between “actually existing neoliberalism” and neoliberal ideology, “in which market forces are assumed to operate according to immutable laws no matter where they are unleashed.  “Actually existing” neoliberalisms are contextually specific interactions between inherited regulatory landscapes and emergent neoliberal, market-oriented restructuring projects.  Within the “neoliberal heartlands” of North American and Western Europe, we can get a telling glimpse of the concrete forms of neoliberalism as well as its discursive production.  This critique takes into account the ways in which ideologies of neoliberalism are themselves produced and reproduced through institutional forms and political action, since “actually existing” neoliberalisms are always hybrid or composite structures (Brenner, 2002).

According to Peck and Tickell, the “roll back” phase of neoliberalism includes the dismantling of welfare programs, whereas the “roll out” phase of neoliberalism can include “workfareism” or other new market-centric programs (2002: 401).   Workfare is part political ideology, part policy program, part moral crusade, workfare lies at the emblematic center of the contemporary attack on the principles and practices of the welfare state.  Peck defines workfare as “a political-economic tendency, one that is associated with a variety of discursive representations, restructuring strategies, and institutional forms” (2001: 241).  Among the discourses are “welfare dependency,” that construct the causes of poverty and un(der)employment as individual failings in an attempt to legitimate restructuring strategies to cut social services.  Workfareism tells a story about the failings of the poor and the virtues of hard work, a compelling story neoliberals wish to hear, and make heard.  In this deeply politicized process, a policy “problem” was redefined before being “solved”.  Discursively, workfareism is wrapped in language of reciprocity, self-sufficiency, and independence through work, and workfare is presented as a salvation to those enslaved by a “dependency culture” (Peck, 2001).

In this new variant, which I refer to as the “roll over” phase of neoliberalism, even members of society who don’t necessarily have employment needs, are not considered safe from the states efforts to control the form of employment and educational choices they can make.  The state, beyond just “rolling out” new policies to regulating the already regulated spaces of the unemployed, goes further to “roll over” the entire employed and unemployed population of the state. A “roll over” phase of neoliberalism can be defined as policies, which go above and beyond the spaces of those policies previously “rolled out”.  Imagine the policy realm as a map, or more specifically as a map of welfare policies.  New workfare polices which are expanded beyond the range of the previous “rolled up” welfare polices in effect “roll over” areas they were not previously linked to.  These new workfare polices go beyond assistance to the unemployed, but seek to dictate employment options for those either too young to be currently employed, or those who are already employed make up the spaces of “roll over”.  This is a rather clever way of slipping in a policy as an “updating” of “old” and “outdated” policies when in fact these “updates” are completely different. Spaces of  “roll over” increase the effective range of the structural “roll back” of a regime of social entitlements, supportive institutions, and acceptable norms of labor-market behavior. I conceptualize “roll over” as a space as much as a phase because “roll over” polices can by their very nature overlap areas, which have not yet reached a previous “roll up”, or “roll out” phase.

I will first detail some examples of the “roll over” phase of neoliberalism outside of workforce development training in order to give a more contextual view of this phenomena, these include mandatory requirements of community service for already employed residents of public housing, an increasing rate of prison labor as well as the increasing percentage of the population in prison, and an increase in the numbers of people forcibly occupied in the military.

Title V, of the “ stipulates a new 8 hour monthly community service requirement for continued public housing or face eviction. This program affects more than 350,000 people nationwide, single mothers who already work up to 30 hours per week (Lamport, 2004).  The local states decide on what is considered to be acceptable for community service (Hunt, 1998).  This is another way that the state is increasing its control over the workforce outside of traditional unemployment work policies.  A number of states are implementing programs in which tenants of public housing can include voluntary policing of their community as the community service requirement (Housing Finance Agency State of Minnesota, 2000; Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, 2003; Chen, 2004). 

The increase in “criminology” (Braitwaite, 2000) and the recent increase in prisons (Urban Institute, 2004) has been the largest in history.  Aside from being a boom for the prison construction and guard industries, prison work has been increasing as states assign those incarcerated to various occupations in the public and private sector. Minnesota in 2001 had 17,073 inmates in state prisons, almost twice the number of five years earlier, who were enrolled in “sentencing to service” programs in which they work during the day at job selected by local officials, and go home to jail at night. Again, Minnesota is just part of a national trend (Kilborn, 2002).  Nationally, the Incarceration rate has seen a four-fold increase over the last 25 years.  Over 2.2 million people were in prison in 2003, up from 218,000 in 1974 (Urban Institute, 2004).  This is in the context of a declining crime rate.  Crime fell 35 % from 1992 to 2002.  From 1994 to 2003 there was a 16 percent drop in arrests for violent crime, including a 36 percent decrease in arrests for murder and a 25 percent decrease in arrests for robbery.  Further, the average time served by prison inmates rose from 23 months in 1995 to 30 months in 2001. Experts say mandatory sentences, especially for nonviolent drug offenders are a major reason the inmate population has risen for 30 years.  Drug offenders now make up more than half of all federal prisoners.  Terms have also increased, life sentences are up 83 percent from 1992 to 2004 (Butterfield, 2004).

During the second Persian Gulf War, the U.S. Army notified formerly retired and discharged soldiers who were not only no longer members of the U.S. armed forces, but were not even members of the National Guard or Reserves. Eligible candidates from a list of 118,000 were involuntarily recalled to active duty for service in Iraq and Afghanistan to fill certain high-priority skill areas (Burns, 2004).  If they do not report, they are considered absent without leave, or AWOL even after years of civilian life (Rutgers, 2005).  The term “backdoor draft” was popularized during the 2004 election to describe the struggle of those who filed suit to stop the forced retention of men and women who have fulfilled their service obligations yet were required to extend their service due to “stop-loss” orders from the U.S. Military (Tanner, 2004).  Thousands of reservists lost their civilian jobs while away.  Their civilian careers were sacrificed in the name of state let occupational mandates. This is despite a 1994 law requiring employers to give equivalent positions back when soldiers return (Margasak, 2004).  Governors complained of the severe manpower shortages.  Not only for possible national disasters such as floods or fires, but also in the various occupations reservists formerly held, often as police or other public servants.   (Kershaw, 2004)

As Peck says, “if workfarism is to be effectively understood, let alone effectively opposed, careful mapping of a range of contemporary workfare experiments is essential.  This means tracing the incipient regulatory logics of established and emerging workfare strategies.” (2001: 3)  Although all texts create subject positions for its readers, this perspective is not always obvious. An analysis of the Governor’s Workforce Development Plan can give greater insight into the attitudes of the state’s hegemonic discourse and its correspondence with a neoliberal perspective. Further, this analysis can bring to the forefront the neoliberal “roll over” spaces within workforce development training policies.

MINNESOTA STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

In 1996, the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council (GWDC) was created by then Republican Governor Arne Carlson.  Two years later, the national Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was modeled on Minnesota’s workforce development efforts.  Minnesota’s one-stop job centers and the authority given to the governor’s council were integral.  The WIA mandate was that the council should be constituted with a mixture of people from various parts of the community.  Specifically, “the WIA mandate was that the majority of people on the council should represent business.”  The principal concern at the time was to address the state’s serious and growing worker shortage. This was considered to be the single biggest issue in Minnesota due to the historically low unemployment rate at the time of 2.5 percent.  Business leaders saw this as a long-term problem.  As Hale, the chair of the (GWDC) said, “this is not a problem that’s going to be solved by a little economic downturn” (Legal Ledger, 1999).

Hale wished to deal with “underemployment” which he defined as “people who are in jobs which they think are ok, but are nowhere near as good as some of the jobs that are available and screaming for workers.”  “A person working for $11 an hour doesn’t realize that they, with a little bit of training, or just knowing about it, might qualify for a $13, $15, or $16 an hour job” (Legal Ledger, 1999).  Specific industries in Minnesota, such as the printing industry, medical devices, manufacturing-machining-metalworking, health services, and finance were found by Hale to have the tightest labor shortage.  A primary area of disconnect, as Hale sees it, is people who mistakenly think the way to succeed in life is to get a four-year degree.  “They don’t even know why they do it.  Sometimes they come out of a college after four years and don’t really know what they want to do.  Perhaps this education is wasted when they figure out after five, six, seven, eight years that they actually only wanted to be an auto mechanic” (Legal Ledger, 1999).  Hale goes on to stress the importance of employment now as a priority above job satisfaction. “It might be a good job or might not be a good job.  But the alternative is there right now” (Legal Ledger, 1999).  Hale suggests that the private part of working training should be decreased.  Hale wishes to use his position to push forward an agenda focusing on a shortage of job skills. Hale stresses that this simple message must be “pushed, pushed, pushed”.  Rather than finding jobs for workers, workforce development policy is to find workers for jobs. Further, he believes that “there’s a pile of money that’s sitting there that’s dealing with old programs and old initiatives” (Legal Ledger, 1999).  These new policies are a distinct departure from efforts to get unemployed people into the job stream, a departure from the retraining necessary when a company shuts down or relocates. 

The first major report by Hale’s Governor’s workforce council explains the new emphasis of workforce development on currently employed Minnesota’s who may or may not be working at a level below their potential, as measured by their salary.  The council wishes to expand the reach of workforce development efforts beyond the traditional categories of “individuals who are disadvantaged, disabled, at risk, or in some other targeted category.” finding that, “nearly 40 percent of the Minnesota population earns less than $10.00 per hour”.  The report also states, “we need a plan that reflects the new realities of the workplace.”  Further, “by focusing on what is necessary and effective, the state can strategically place its investments to ensure a workforce that will make Minnesota a world-class competitor now and in the coming decades.”  It states that concentrating on only the unemployed, who “make up less than five percent of the Minnesota labor force” as virtually ignoring the vast majority of state workers.  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning.  February 2000)

            Included among the primary recommendations of the Governor’s workforce development council (GWDC) report, is the goal of establishing an “Emerging Worker Program”, which would emphasize to secondary school students post-secondary options in technical curricula (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000). Although Peck has documented a history of state sponsored job training efforts within the new workforce development ideology of workfareism to ensure that, “active market regulation of the welfare system have restructured to make work schemes for the unemployed so as to more closely meet ‘local market needs’” (Workplace 1996, p. 212). The emphasis on state residents who may not yet be considered employable due to child labor laws is an aspect of this neoliberal “roll over” phase which seeks to include all who have been schooled at the “states expense”.

            The next recommendation of the GWC is to take funds for the directives of this report from the Dislocated Worker Fund, which specifically targets the unemployed, as opposed to targeting anyone who isn’t in the “right” kind of occupation.  These occupations would have an alignment “with the marketplace, including the needs of critical occupations and industries.”  They go on to say that “all programs, incentives, and resource expenditures be based on market needs as reflected in critical occupations and industries.”  The rationale is again due to “new economic realities”.  It goes on to give “enhanced electronic communication” and the seemingly inevitable phenomena of ”globalization” and the increased competition resulting, as an explanation for the change in policy.  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000)  According to Brenner, it is neoliberalism, which has become the dominant political and ideological form of capitalist globalization.  Neoliberal policies are characterized here as both the cause of the problem, and its solution. (Brenner, 2002)

            Another goal of worker training stated in this GWDC report is “realigning programs to meet demand”.  This section seeks an approach in which “workforce programs are created and maintained to meet the needs of the workers and employers who utilize them.”  Although this sentence would indicate both the needs of workers and employers would be taken into consideration, looking into the further indicates specific priorities.  It states, “a better means of guiding the workforce development system is to listen to the needs of both the employers who hire, and the workers who seek improved economic opportunities for themselves.  The business community can, and should, be assisting the workforce development system with decisions on how to direct resources toward meeting the emerging skill needs of today’s rapidly-changing economy”  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000). This is one of many examples of the document discursively creating a vision of reality in which the interests of both employer and employee have been taking into account, but the employer makes decisions as to what occupations are important to them, the employees apparently have no such needs.

            This section further states, “To advance overall state economic growth, it may be wise to focus workforce development programs toward high-growth, high-wage industries.  Organizing workforce development programs around specific industries may also encourage business involvement in defining the needs of the workforce development system must meet.  Moreover, because industries employ many different types of occupations, information on industry-specific workforce needs may help illuminate good job opportunities.  Appendix G provides a list of high-wage or high-growth industries in the state.  This industry list is by no means definitive, but should be considered a starting point for focused attention.”  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning.  February 2000) 

The goal here is of subsidizing the training needs of specific clusters of industries, in the name of greater earning potential of the employees, with no importance as to the kinds of occupations the residents of the state desire.  One main difference however is that this policy document has the power to put this ideology into action in the many workforce development institutions already present in the State.  The goal is to mobilize into concrete reality the ideology of neoliberal market centric policies. For example, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership facilitates partnerships between employers with specific training needs for their employees, and accredited educational institutions who can train the workers to meet their employers’ needs.  This GWDC report suggests increasing the grants available for the job skills partnership by $ 4 million per year, with preference to “the critical industries or occupations in an area”.  (Minnesota GWDC, 2003). 

Another recommendation is “to increase the alignment of public educational resources with the marketplace, including the needs of critical occupations and industries.” (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000).  The language of this recommendation specifically suggests students are not the ones who should be making the choices about the course work they take.  “We believe that the educational system of the state is not producing enough graduates to meet the needs of many high-wage occupations and industries.  For example, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ (MnSCU’s) course program structure is built around student choice, and funding is allocated by the Legislature on a course registration basis.  But course registration numbers don’t always reflect the demand for the skill or occupation in the marketplace.  Under this system, the state sometimes subsidizes training for which there is limited employment demand” (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000). 

 Interestingly, the report attempts to suggest these recommendations are in the name of the students, but with unemployment at an all time low in the state of Minnesota at the time of this report, why would it logically be necessary to change the present system away from allowing the students more choices?  Again, the reasons is this document is not a manifestation of any objective research or study.  In the place of this kind of methodological rigor, is ideological rhetoric of the dominant hegemonic ideology of neoliberalism.  This is the very same ideology of the state and the business leaders who are, the leading intellectuals in this attempt at securing consent and hegemony.

This recommendation goes on to state, “We recommend that MnSCU align tuition levels to correspond with demand for training in priority industries and occupations.  For example, MnSCU campuses should reduce student tuition for programs for which there is high occupational demand (e.g., computer courses) and increase student tuition for programs for which there is a low occupational demand (e.g., taxidermy).”  Further, “MnSCU should cap enrollment in programs for which there is a low demand for employees relative to supply so that the state no longer subsidizes training for which there is little employer demand.”  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000).  In this “roll over” phase of neoliberalism, the student who is neither unemployed, or even yet a part of the workforce has increasingly had their choices for their future careers made for them by wealthy business owners as represented by the state.  This is another key example of the neoliberal process of erasure of public goods, such as education, into private goods such as occupational training. 

Although the attempt to use taxidermy, as an example of an occupation for which there is more supply than demand, in reality this suggests any course work, which is not intended for certain state selected “cluster industries” might become beyond the financial reach of an increasing number of students.  Other coursework which may not be a part of the local “cluster industries” may be quite varied, from philosophy to art, and from English to geography.  Courses excluded might have been the very course which would allow a detailed examination of these policies from another worldview, and ask critical questions which this report clearly never identifies as relevant such as ‘what do workers want to learn and do?’.  But again, this report seeks to limit the realm of questions to be asked and answers given.  The question asked is, what kinds of courses would not be considered of “value” to employers of the state of Minnesota.  The answer is taxidermy, and similar courses.  Obviously courses in humanities, history, cultural studies, or any social sciences would be unlikely to fit into the state approved “cluster industries”, but this is not an area the report has any interest in taking its reader.

Finally, a very telling recommendation in this report suggests a strategy of recruiting workers from other states.  “The private sector has had some success in promotional campaigns recruiting workers to Minnesota, particularly former residents of the state.  Minnesota business should examine these efforts and pool its resources to consider a targeted campaign”  (Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and Minnesota Planning, February 2000).  The reason this section is so enlightening as to the world view of this report, is the fact that it gives no relevance to the importance of the social bonds and bridges which are so important to each community.  What is of vast importance is the construction of a more “flexible” workforce, a supremely mobile force of workers who can be placed in any empty occupational slot in any geographic local. 

Workers are considered as movable pieces of the economic machine, and each state is in competition for a larger share.  To the GWDC workers have no individual preferences, or family, or social links to any community giving relevance as to where they should decide to work and live.  This is the worldview of the industries and businesses in Minnesota who want to increase the number of employees in “cluster industries” in which they are scarce, because to lower the scarcity would allow a lowering of the average wage.  The state also has this worldview, because they have increasingly become the source through which Minnesota businesses and industries craft policy for their own needs, and because the state simply sees an increase in employed residents and/or higher wages increases the amount of taxes collected, for yet more workforce development initiatives. 

The 2003 GWDC inventory of workforce development programs shows a continued emphasis on the threat of labor shortages dispite changes in employment from low 1990s rates to relatively higher 2000s rates of unemployment.  “Unemployment rates have jumped from under three percent to over four percent and initial claims for unemployment insurance from 194,000 claims in 1999 to 326,000 in 2002.  As a result of the economic downturn, the dialogue on workforce development has moved from concern over a growing worker shortage towards efforts to retrain more dislocated workers and to extend unemployment benefits.  With the future economic recovery, we expect widespread labor shortages to return.”    (Minnesota GWDC, 2003)

The 2004 GWDC report to the Minnesota state legislature continues with the rational of a worker shortage.  “Our primary economic advantage in a global economy is a productive skilled workforce.  We risk losing that advantage if we do not act now to address the coming skill and labor shortage.  This Advisory provides information on key trends among several economic, workforce, and education indicators and makes the case for a strong focus on skill development across our workforce investment portfolio.  Skill development refers broadly to academic skills, job specific skills, and career exploration skills” (GWDC, February 2004)

Again, strategic investment objectives for Minnesota workforce investment portfolio to the GWDC are to focus education, workforce, and economic development resources to meet market demand in three key business sectors statewide: health care, manufacturing, and biosciences.  They also stress a sector-specific approach to focus resources to address specific skills gaps.  The report states, “There is widespread agreement that Minnesota’s single strongest competitive advantage in a global marketplace is our skilled workforce.”  It continues, “evidence is abundant that skill development is valuable – particularly if targeted for high-demand, high growth business sectors and focused on segments of the population which can benefit most from a specific investment” (GWDC, February 2004, pp. 6).

The investment recommendations suggest specific sectors for expanding enrollment.  In the health care sector, it recommends making funding available to expand enrollment in registered nursing education programs to address shortages.  In the manufacturing sector, it suggests investment to expand education training capacity for manufacturing, which includes the articulation of manufacturing and engineering curricula with Minnesota high schools and apprenticeship programs.  And in the bioscience sector, it seeks to target grant dollars towards workforce training in the bioscience technologies industries, the majority of which going to Minnesota state colleges and universities to maintain cutting edge capabilities in bioscience education.  Further, funding should be made available to Minnesota state colleges and universities to develop an education-industry partnership to respond to the future workforce needs of present and emerging companies in the biosciences industry because curricular design processes need to be dynamic and flexible in response to new industry discoveries.  Further investment recommendation is to expand secondary educational programs that are oriented to specific occupational areas and connect business to education.  This is to provide incentives for independent school distracts to align with current industry standards and increase collaboration among educational institutions and businesses (GWDC, February 2004).

This report also directly connects its policy directions to an organization outside of the state government, “The Citizens League”.  “To address job-specific skills, the GWDC has identified specific sectors with current and future skill shortages requiring attention. In addition, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development have recently created a new analytic tool to identify specific skills gaps in key industries and how state colleges and universities can align educational offerings to meet these skills gaps. When implemented, the recommendations in this document would require continual use of such a tool by those two state organizations as well as other state and local partners to best assess strategic gaps and implement meaningful solutions. The GWDC Executive Committee has previously discussed the value of a “workforce coordinator” position which could also be established at the state level to help guide sectoral work and ensure cross-agency collaboration to focus on skills development as discussed here. Although no specific recommendation is being advanced at this time, there has been previous work on this topic (see 1999 Citizens League report) that could be developed as a gubernatorial recommendation in the coming years” (GWDC, February 2004, pp. 8). This connection to the advocacy organization, “The Citizens League” will be explored more in the next section. 

AN INTELLECTUAL VANGUARD OF “CITIZENS”

In the above mentioned November 1999 report by “the Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training” titled, “From Jobs for Workers, to Workers for Jobs:  Better Workforce Training for Minnesota”, a number of policy changes are recommended.  If we would attempt to do an Althusserian inspired “symptomatic” reading of this document, we may find indications of a ‘hidden text’ full of the dominant hegemonic ideology of neoliberalism encompassed within this organization. Using this technique, we will find the activist groups “The Citizen’s League” can very much be considered what Gramsci described as a vanguard who publicizes arguments and produces elites of intellectuals who are attempting to promote a neoliberal hegemonic ideology as the norm for policy debates and decisions.   It asks questions to its own problems and leaves out alternatives from other ideological frameworks seeking hegemony.  This reports discourse is also strongly aligned with the state Minnesota’s workforce development efforts, indicating similarly their common alignment with neoliberalist policies and the success of this private organization in dictating the state’s policies.

The Citizens League committee on workforce training chair, Rodger Hale, (who was previously CEO of the Minneapolis-based Tennant Company producing office cleaning supplies which no doubt might have had trouble finding voluntary employees who wished to have training with harsh chemicals) was appointed the chair of the Governor’s workforce council.  While the citizens league committee met from April 27, to September 28 1999, Mr. Hale was appointed by the Governor July 14^th, of 1999.  He effectively held the same position within a business advocacy organization as well as the state of Minnesota.

This Citizens League report places the workforce development argument in a context of “the emergence of a global, technology-driven, skills-based economy” and “a continuing shortage of skilled labor”.  The creators of this report state explicitly, how developing a world-class training system for Minnesota’s workers and businesses, “is critical to keeping our state stay competitive” (The Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training, November 1999).  Discourses of neoliberalism represent the world of market rules as a state of nature.  These discourses are self-actualizing in nature because of their alignment with the primary contours of contemporary political-economic power. 

This “new” workforce development trend is assumed here as an inevitable product of advances in other assumed inevitable forces of globalization and technological innovation.  Entrepreneurial cities are by definition speculative as opposed to rationally planned with coordinated development (Harvey, 1989). Although this may be in the best interests of investors, who find it easier to send finances from one geographic local to the next, the residents of these cities find themselves in competition with each other in a downward spiral of decreased wages, benefits and workforce training options outside of those deemed by these think tanks, such as the Citizens League, as important to the local industrial clusters within the economy.  Among the findings of this report is the need for students in the K-12 system who, “need stronger career counseling, direction, and exposure to enter the workforce”.  This is to “play a critical role in aligning the supply of new workers with employers’ skill demands”.  (The Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training.  November 1999)  The report goes on to say, “critical gaps exist in the supply of skilled workers in key industries.”  The reason for this they claim is “a strong cultural bias in favor of traditional four-year colleges, even though other training options can lead to high-skill, high-paying careers” (The Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training, November 1999).  Strangely, nowhere is it mentioned the needs of these students who have decided to attend these “traditional” colleges instead of the other training options, which could lead to “high-paying careers”.  Clearly, this is another indication as to the opinion of the creators of this report, that there is little value in an education besides the amount of money to be made from the eventual occupation connected to it.  Any other purpose for education is not even part of the ‘worker training’ conversation.

This report also has specific recommendations to the Minnesota legislature. Recommendation number one is to coordinate policies to meet the state’s current and future workforce needs.  Recommendation number two goes further in suggesting “The Legislature should develop alternative funding sources to support training for incumbent workers” (The Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training, November 1999).  This is a direct call to subsidize training for those who are currently employed, rather than have their employers pay for what in the end is to their own benefit. Also, these policies are clearly aspects of the “rollover” phase of neoliberalism because they do not regulate the spaces already affected by workforce policy, the unemployed. 

It goes on to state, “Public dollars should be targeted at key industry clusters “.  It further states, “The Citizens League has a long record of support for reorienting public investments, and economic development toward Minnesota’s strategic industry clusters.  Supporting industry clusters is not about picking winners and losers or directing the state’s economy.  Rather, a successful cluster-based development strategy directs public support to those clusters that emerge from market forces.”  (The Citizens League Committee on Workforce Training.  November 1999) Anticipating critique, the Citizens league ironically suggests rewarding businesses who have “emerged from market forces” while effectively ending or strongly effecting the future clusters who may also “emerge from market forces” unhindered by competition from industries who are not categorized as industrial clusters worthy of these state sponsored training subsidies.

The Citizens League’s website states “the citizens league promotes the public interest in Minnesota by involving citizens in identifying and framing critical public policy choices, forging recommendations and advocating their adoption” (The Citizens League Citizens Shaping Minnesota’s Agenda for More Than 45 years, 2004).  This organization adopts some of the language and rhetoric of a grassroots, activist organization, as exemplified in this quote from the group’s statement of purpose: “The American citizen is being convinced…that democracy is failing because government is controlled by the politicians, and the individual citizen is left bewildered.”  Yet, the roots of the Citizens League admittedly goes back to the early 1940s, when “a group of young Minneapolis business leaders, concerned about the overpowering impact of government on individual citizens, decided to work together to influence elected officials and government procedures and actions” (The Citizens League Citizens Shaping Minnesota’s Agenda for More Than 45 years, 2004). 

This organization is more than simply the dominant class attempting to exert a moral and intellectual leadership. One of the most important aspects of Gramsci’s definition of hegemony includes a dominant class who will exert a moral and intellectual leadership, and will go beyond its own “economic-corporate” interests in order to ally itself within a social bloc of forces, a “historical bloc” which represents a basis of compromise and consent.  By attempting to put this document in the context of being for both businesses and employees, it is seeking to redefine the compromise equilibrium to be formed within the current historical bloc, which according to Gramsci’s has a common political ideology with contributions of its different social groups, or “subaltern classes” (Mayo, 1999).

People relate to the conditions of existence through the practice of ideology.  Contradictions are smoothed over and real problems are offered false though seemingly true solutions.  The “citizens league’s” report is attempting to create a mythology, of a compromise between workers and business leaders, yet that compromise interpollates workers interests solely as making a higher wage than the average, and goes so far as to suggest all a worker really needs, or even wants is to be more useful to their employer. 

By attempting to color the reader’s perceptions of reality and of the relations between employer and employee in the terms of the employer alone, this report can be defined as ideology.  At no point do they identify any membership as employees, or any kind of labor organization, not is their report in consultation with any employee or labor organization.  Their point of view is clear, once you read between the lines, yet they are adept at the mystification of a pseudo grassroots organization, in actuality, this may in fact me astroturf, or false grassroots, in an effort to gain consent among the working class.  To intepellate those who read its text as being one who has the same narrow goals as the report, to become a worker trained into any occupation the larger state economy “needs” as defined by the state with aid of local business elites.

INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER CRITIQUE

The much-touted industrial cluster approach to workforce development training emphasizes the sectors in a regions economy with a high productivity ratio and a recent history of high growth.  Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business school, arguably one of the foremost experts as well as proponents of industrial cluster theory, describes industrial clusters as geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated in a particular field that compete but also cooperate.  According to Porter, more than single industries, clusters encompass an array of linked industries and other entities important to competition.  This assumes “economic development seeks to achieve long-term sustainable development of a “standard of living”.  This is determined, in this model, by the productivity of an area’s economy, which is measured by the value of the goods and services produced per unit of human capital and human resources.  (Porter, 1994)

There are a number of problems with this cluster theory based policies, foremost in importance to our discussion is the obvious lack of worker advocacy for their own employment and needs of fulfillment.  (Sawicki, D.S., & Moody, M. 1996).  Porter himself points out some of the limitations of the cluster model.  He has found policies that promote clusters could hurt deserving non-cluster firms who sometimes have higher wages or benefits (Porter, 1995).  Another main concern with the cluster approach is the fact that some industries may have a limited lifespan.  Employees who are training in these industries may find themselves out of work at the next technological revolution (Johnson, J.H., Farrell W.C., & Henderson, G. R. 1996, Fall/Winter and Harrison, B., & Glasmeier, A.K. 1997, February). Finally, the decision as to which “clusters” are truly destined to grow is a difficult one, and growth does not always correlate with superior wages or benefits for all employees. (Hill, E., & Brennan, J. 2000, February).

A past example of a short-term cluster economy in Minnesota is the mainframe computer industry, which was booming until the personal computer era made many of their operations obsolete.  These jobs quickly disappeared, and employees had to be retrained in other fields to find gainful employment (University of Minnesota and The Metropolitan Council. 1995, July).  A similar situation has also occurred in many high tech fields since this report was originally published before the recession of 2000.  What has become called the ‘dot com bomb’ has substantially decreased employment in information technology clusters.  Even within the intensively clustered high tech economy of Silicon Valley, many residents are finding themselves unemployed and in need of yet more retraining or relocation.  (Saxenian, 1994) (Scott, 1994) (Henwood, 2001).

Markusen’s article, ‘Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts’ discusses the ways geographic areas can be slippery to business investment due to the increased flow of capital.  These areas want to be sticky, to hold people with good jobs.  She further critiques the use of industrial districts in economic development analysis by cautioning the singular enthusiasm for flexibly specialized industrial districts, especially the high tech variant, as ill founded on the grounds of growth, stability and equity.  There are a multitude of reasons why certain areas are successful compared to others.  Sticky places are complex products of multiple forces, their success cannot be studied by focusing only on local institutions and behaviors because their companies, workers and other institutions are embedded in external relationships both cooperative and competitive that condition their commitment to the locality and their success there (Markusen, 1996)

            Markusen suggests economic and community development planners should expand their range of targeting solely based on industries to include occupations as well.  Specific occupations can have high employment growth rates, fit with underemployed workforce groups and the potential for self-employment and entrepreneurship.  She argues that industrial targeting efforts often disappoint their purveyors because they focus on firms, the individual members of an industry, as the central agents of economic development.  Diagnosing the competitive status of individual firms and convincing them to come or stay in a specific geographic area is often a very difficult and expensive proposition.  With global economic integration and new technologies, local economies are under pressure to specialize and export more than ever.  This ability is based on talents and synergy in the local economy (Markusen, 2001).

Firms will choose where to locate due to the quality of workers, says Markusen, although development is also strongly linked with increased education, also known as ‘human capital’.  Training by individual companies is too expensive because job commitment has waned and workers can shift in tight labor markets with short notice, thus training is externalized in regional institutions, and this training is best better organized by occupation rather than industrial clusters.  She also stresses that entrepreneurial activity accounts for new local specialization and job growth.  Identifying entrepreneurship by occupation is significantly harder than in industries.  She uses an example of the arts occupations (Markusen, 2001).  Markusen elaborates on this thought in an article titled “The artistic dividend, on the artists hidden contributions to regional development”.  She suggests that the productivity and earnings of the regional economy do rise because creativity and specialized skills enhance the design, production and marketing of products and services (Markusen, 2003).

Another economic development theorists in the realm of the impact creativity has on a regions potential for economic growth is Richard Florida.  He discusses the distribution of talent, or human capital and how it’s an important factor in economic geography.  Talent, he suggests, must be attracted to a geographic region because it has positive effects on the location and development of high-technology industries and with them comes increased regional incomes.  Talent is defined as individuals with high levels of human capital, measured as the percentage of the population with a bachelor’s degree and above.  Florida hypothesizes that talent is attracted by diversity and the diversity index, which measures the proportion of gay households in a region, can be complimented by the coolness index, which measures the cultural and nightlife amenities, which can also complement the high-technology industry and increase regional income.  Talent is associated with the diversity index, furthermore, the economic geography of talent is strongly associated with high-technology industry locations generating higher regional incomes (Florida, 2002).

Florida stresses that cities and entire nations must learn to compete for these creative workers or risk stagnation.  Any advantage the United States has “lies in its ability to attract these economic drivers from around the world.  Of critical importance to American success in the last century has been a tremendous influx of global talent” (Florida, 2005 p 5).  Nations that invest in their people by creating open and tolerant societies will win in the global competition for human resources.  He refused to see such competition between cities as a zero-sum game reinforcing inequalities between cities.

            Glaeser finds the urban lesson of Florida’s book “The Creative Class” is that cities that want to succeed must aim at attracting the creative types who are the wave of the future.  Glaeser confirms that Florida is correct, creativity is becoming a more important part of the economy.  The importance of idea-generation is nothing new, Adam Smith emphasizes the importance of knowledge-creation, followed by Alfred Marshall, Jane Jacobs, and Paul Romer.  (Glaeser, 2004)  High skilled people in high skilled industries come up with more new ideas.  (Glaeser, 1994)  Using Florida’s own data, Glaeser shows that the percent of adults with a college education and also the super-creative core employees are highly correlated.  His analysis also shows that while schooling has a positive and significant correlation with economic growth, the gay population has a slight statistically negative impact.  As much as one may wish diversity to conclusively be a positive impact on economic development and higher wages, it demonstrably and simply is not (Glaeser, 2004).

Despite these critiques, the “Creative Class” theories of Florida have found a large amount of support among policy makers.  The Citizens Leagues most recently published report on higher education also stresses the need for creativity in workforce development training (Citizens League, 2004). According to this report, higher education is a resource, which should be available to take part in every Minnesotan’s life.  The goal should be, to be the best-educated and innovative workforce in the world.  One of the reforms to this end is to raise the expectation of at least two years of post-high school education.  They also stress the difficulty for low income and minorities who seek higher education.  This is a welcome change in the discourse, but they still place emphasis on advanced science and engineering degrees.  There is also still discourse on the importance of how “Minnesotans should be alarmed over our eroding competitive advantage in the knowledge economy” (Citizens League, 2004, pp. 9).   Among the competitive factors included in the Citizens League’s discourse is the new acknowledgement that “Minnesota’s knowledge economy also demands a significant and growing number of graduates with strong skills in the liberal arts, including critical thinking, creative problem solving, and strong written and verbal communications skills.”  Further, “promoting democratic values and preparing students to be good citizens are among the statutory objectives of higher education.  They recommend the recent work on the “creative economy” by Richard Florida, author of The Creative Class, links the economic success of regions to their ability to attract and retain these workers” (Citizens League, 2004, pp. 26)

Workforce training discourse appears to be moving in a direction acknowledging the contributions of creative workers. Although the emphasis on the ways these kinds of workers contribute to the economy are no less neoliberal than the previously envogue policies emphasizing industrial clusters, this new focus does offer possibilities for alternative paths for workforce legislation and practices.  Also, once the state intervenes by subsidizing the training expenses of these industrial cluster businesses, the rational for increased interventions to stimulate the local economy with, tax breaks, cheap credit, procurement of sites or any verities of state support of private enterprises in the name of economic development are not far behind.  Thus cities and regions are forced to compete by offering similar subsidies.  This unspoken viewpoint of the crafters of these policy documents offers a glimpse of their real motivations for such policies, the enrichment of their membership, not necessarily the workers who are affected by such policies.  With this ideology firmly in place, a space needs to be found in which alternative voices can be heard.  For the possibilities for a worker workforce development and a worker agency, I will now turn back to Gramsci.

GRAMSCIAN ADULT EDUCATION CRITIQUES

To find a theoretical framework allowing for some amount of advocacy by those who are not a part of the dominant hegemonic neoliberal ideology, we can return to Gramsci and his modern day advocates.  There is a virtual plethora of modern day academics and adult educators who are using the theories of Gramsci in their every day practice (Mayo, 1995).  One of the most prolific of these ‘Gramscians’ is Peter Mayo.  In “Gramsci, Freire & Adult Education: possibilities for transformative action”, Mayo criticizes the recent propagation of a discourse essentially technical-rational and focusing primarily on ‘what works’, meaning a strong emphasis on the marketability of the worker as ‘flexible’ and ‘adaptable’ rather than concern for issues of interest to individual workers such as social justice, self actualization or simple worker satisfaction.  These neoclassical arguments involve justifications of this emphasis due to the flight of capital across different geographic boundaries with the intensification of the globalization process since the early 1980s administrations of Reagan and Thatcher.  (Mayo, 1999)

             “Neo-liberal ideology in adult education, as well as in other spheres of activity, can easily lead one to think and operate within the logic of capitalist restructuring.  This process is generally characterized by such features as that of converting what were once public goods (adult education among them) into consumption goods, as the ‘ideology of the marketplace’ holds sway.” According to this ideology, “focus is on production without any preoccupation about what we are producing, who benefits, and who it hurts.”  Freire, a Brazilian educator and advocate of the “Gramscian Turn” in adult education, also argues, “there is no such thing as a neutral education.  Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it.”  On the other hand, education has the potential to “become the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”  (Freire, quoted in Mayo, 1999) 

To these theorists, education can be either domesticating or liberating.  To concern ourselves with the transformative and emancipating dimension of adult education, Mayo points out the fact that we must engage in the logic of the capitalist system in order to be effective. Civil society is an arena which consolidates, through its dominant institutions, the existing hegemonic arrangements, but which also contains sites of resistance, often within these same dominant institutions themselves.  Through what Gramsci describes, the ‘war of position’ these arrangements are constantly renegotiated and contested.  (Mayo, 1999)

  Gramsci himself, was devoted to the education of workers, both as a journalist and as an adult educator in the factory council movement in an effort at the formation of intellectuals who are of the oppressed, or “organic” to the “subaltern”. Mayo believes this kind of alternative transformative adult education should be grounded in a critique of mainstream educational systems.  This critique would include a process of analysis tying  educational systems to systemic and structural forms of domination in the wider society, without denying a “relative autonomy”.  It also entails a form of dialectical engagement exposing the contradictions that lie behind the veneer created by the dominant, hegemonic discourse.  Specific efforts should pose questions as to how politicized education is, and are the concerns expressed ‘neutral’, or relating to the dominant powers interests and configurations in society.   The important question being, is their room for a critically conscious agency among the workforce being developed? 

Throughout Gramsci’s writings on the state and civil society exists a critique of education.  Educational establishments play an important role in cementing the existing hegemony, by establishing consent for the ruling way of life.  Compulsory initial learning, mandated by the capitalist Italian state during the Fascist rule, is problematised by Gramsci in his critique of the Riforma Gentile.  His critique was of the Fascist regimes separation between ‘classical’ and ‘vocational’ schools.  He argued for the provision of a broad education, with a strong humanistic basis for all, rather than any kind of differentiation or classes of schools.  Only an education, which would not jeopardize ones future as a result of early and narrow professional specialization, would be acceptable.  Gramsci insisted that professional schools should not be “incubators of small monsters, narrowly instructed for a specific occupation, lacking in ‘general ideas’, a ‘general culture’ and ‘a soul’, while being in possession only of an ‘infallible eye’ and a ‘firm hand’.”  (Gramsci, quoted in Sassoon, 1989: 231)  Current policies and practices must be similarly criticized as to their narrow focus and lack of allowing options for its citizens.  This is especially true under the current ‘flexible accumulation’ regime of capitalism entailing a focus on skill development in a time of rapid destruction and reconstruction of skills (Harvey, 1990)

As a crucial area of civil society, adult education itself can also play an important role in this ‘war of position’, entailing wide-ranging counter hegemonic cultural activity.  Gramsci’s factory councils movement was conceived as an adult education movement through which workers were ‘educated’ as producers rather than simply as ‘wage earners’.  For Gramsci, the factory councils were intended to allow the workers to educate themselves, and gain an awareness of their place within the larger social structure. He further believed in education through praxis, and an absolute fusion between education and the world of production.  In the factory council movement, workers were to experience the unity of the industrial process and see themselves as an inseparable part of the whole labor system, which is concentrated in the object being manufactured.  The knowledge acquired at the workplace could lead to a greater understanding of the workings of society.  (Mayo, 1999)

Adult educators engaging in counter-hegemonic cultural activity are intellectuals organic to the ‘subaltern’ groups aspiring to power.  This implies that they should be politically committed to those they teach.  Gramsci's criticism of Italian education was that the educators were not organic to the subaltern, and dissemination of culture was not carried out in the context of an attempt to transform their social and cultural conditions, merely to reinforce the status quo.  Furthermore, he also questioned the approach to learning adopted by the teachers, who failed to connect with the learners’ background and framework of relevance.  Modern day adult educators, especially in the many institutions of workforce development, must similarly seek guidance from the students as to what areas of knowledge they seek for their own self actualization as opposed to those defined by the dominant hegemonic neoliberal ideology.  (Mayo, 1999)

Gramsci also believed any dialogue or other elements of a participative education not grounded in solid facts and rigor would be detrimental to the working class.  Any such dialogue would be merely rhetoric.  Facilitation, without critical analysis keeps the learner locked in the same paradigm of thinking.  He also advocates mastery of the dominant hegemonic language by members of the ‘subaltern’ classes so that they do not remain at the periphery of political life, and be able to more effectively engage with the intellectuals who were the mouthpieces for the dominant hegemonic ideology. (Mayo, 1999)  Only by understanding neoliberal ideology can we begin to contemplate ways to change policies in favor of worker rights and away from policies which pigenhold worker potential into specific occupations in industries who happen to have geographical proximity.  Further, an emphasis on critical thinking will allow a greater proportion of the population to realize the importance of solid facts and using rigorous methodology when analyzing elements as diverse as work practices, to interpersonal relationships.  If there is ever to be any kind of radical potential in the thinking of the population, it must, as Gramsci would say, begin with critical thinking.

POTENTIAL “ROLL-UNDER” PHASE OF NEOLIBERALISM

        Of course, if ideology is materialized in institutions that are part of the state apparatus, the role of institutions in a process in which the state apparatus is abolished or even minimized, is a very problematical one.  However, adult education practitioners do have the ability to facilitate a stronger contestation of the current dominant ideology of neoliberalism.  The goal of eventually transforming the current workforce development strategies into a method by which students can be the judges of what they learn, and what they do with that education rather than having their goals thrust upon them by a state working purely in the interests of the market, is a possibility worth pursuing.

            A potential “roll under” phase of neoliberalism would include an effort to bring into the workforce training discourse an emphasis on critical thinking in all education rather than training for either specific industrial clusters, occupations, or skill sets.  This “roll under” phase of neoliberalism would deemphasize the most alarming aspect of many workforce training efforts, including that of Florida’s so called “creative class”, the creation of a scenario with distinct winners and losers among both workers and their employers beyond that already endemic to the logic of capitalist relations.  Education emphasizing specific cluster industries, occupations, or skills not only limit choices of those seeking education and meaningful employment, but it also limits the possibilities of competing businesses whose workforce training goals are not prioritized by the state.  Efforts to seduce either “creative” workers, or workers in much valued “high skilled” or “high paying” occupations create a vacuum of these professions in the geographic areas they flee.  The key is to create more valuable workers in all geographic areas rather than seduce them from other geographic areas.  These policies would appear to be outwardly neoliberal because workers would also happen to have the qualities most valuable to businesses, that of innovation.  The importance of innovative workers can ironically be shown through a closer reading of one of the primary proponents of “industrial cluster” based economic development strategies, Porter.

In “The Competitive Advantage of Nations”, Porter, stresses, “A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade” (Porter, 1990. pp. 73).  Further,  “companies achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation.  They approach innovation in its broadest sense, including both new technologies and new ways of doing things” (Porter, 1990. pp. 74).  Further, “much innovation is mundane and incremental, depending more on a cumulating of small insights and advances than on a single, major technological breakthrough.  It always involves investing in skill and knowledge.  Some innovations create competitive advantage by perceiving an entire new market opportunity or by serving a market segment that others have ignored.  Information plays a large role in the process of innovation and improvement – information that either is not available to competitors or that they do not seek” (Porter, 1990. pp. 74).  Innovation can come from investment in research and development or market research, but “more often, it comes from effort and from openness and from looking in the right place unencumbered by blinding assumptions or conventional wisdom.  This is why innovators are often outsiders from a different industry or a different country" (Porter, 1990 pp. 75).

Although Porter seems to acknowledge the importance of individual worker innovation, he moves into the direction of promoting “industrial clusters” when he states “a nations success largely depends on the types of education its talented people choose, where they choose to work, and their commitment and effort.  The goal’s of a nation’s institutions and values set for individuals and companies, and the prestige it attaches to certain industries, guide the flow of capital and human resources – which, in turn, directly affects the competitive performance of certain industries” (Porter, 1990. pp. 81).  He goes on to say that the place for government is not to create competitive industries, only companies can do that.  “Government policies that succeed are those that create an environment in which companies can gain competitive advantage” (Porter, 1990. pp. 86).  He suggests, “the factors that translate into competitive advantage are advanced, specialized, and tied to specific industries or industry groups.  Mechanisms such as specialized apprenticeship programs, research efforts in universities connected with an industry, trade association activities, and most important, the private investments of companies ultimately create the factors that will yield competitive advantage” (Porter, 1990. pp. 87). Government can most importantly create pressures for innovation rather than promoting specific worker training.  He goes on to say that in nearly every successful competitive industry leading companies, rather than the government, take explicit steps to create specialized factors like human resources, scientific knowledge, or infrastructure.  He suggests that “our polices and programs have fallen into the trap of redistributing wealth.  The real need – and the real opportunity – is to create wealth” (Porter, 1995. pp. 56).

An innovation is, “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” (Rogers, 2003, p. 12).  The innovation-development process consists of all the decisions, activities, and their impacts that occur from the recognition of a need or a problem.  Other terms are often used as a synonym for innovation, such as technology or invention.  The most important part of innovation is the ability of an individual to come up with or recognize new ideas.  This is why R & D workers occasionally chance upon an invention while pursuing research to find a very different invention.  Post-its, Rogaine, Penicillin, DDT, were all serendipitous discoveries of new ideas which occurred to the general public as well as the much glorified scientists and inventors (Rogers, 2003).  Hippel (1988) has found that the basic assumption that manufacturers are the ones who produce innovations, but its usually lead users who are thinking up new innovations for their own self-driven purposes.  Nonetheless, large businesses attempt to establish innovative environments such as ‘Skunkworks’ because time has proven the ability of creative environments to create profits.  These innovations further have positive externalities for the rest of the economy when the knowledge spillovers benefit other sectors (Black, 2004)

Markusen (1996) also connects the artistic creativity and innovation to economic development, and Florida agrees with the importance of creative thinking to economic progress enough to suggest efforts to lure these “creative workers” from other geographic locations lead to successful geographic areas. He suggests broadening the very definition of creativity, one that would ennoble and encourage the everyday efforts of “ordinary” occupations allowing workers to be more self-actualized.  Florida also quotes innovation expert Paul Romer when explaining how investments in innovative ideas have extraordinary rates of return and promise to pay incredible dividends because they are public goods whose benefits are conferred broadly and reverberate throughout the entire economy.  He suggests that human creativity should be cultivated in our school systems (Florida, 2005). Further, Porter stresses the ultimate importance of innovation to increasing productivity, wealth and therefore economic development.  Yet, teaching innovation is rarely mentioned as a goal.  Even the previously mentioned Citizens League has begun to see the need for improved critical thinking and creative problem solving in higher education in its most recent report on workforce development and education (Citizens League November 2004), although the Governors Workforce Development council has failed to follow suit.  The Citizens League are vague about any goals, but refer to the work of Florida as providing the links between economic success and the “creative economy”.

 Critical thinking has become increasingly important in higher education.  This is because critical thinking skills have been proven to lead to success in academia and in every day life.  Carson (1995) says that this is because it gives people the ability to rigorously analyze logical questions and engage in deeper questions of knowledge. Hanley (1995) also suggests that critical thinking skills can help students solve everyday problems constructively.  This is of crucial importance to spurring innovation because “provocative teaching” allows students to examine and question their own beliefs and the conditions under which these formed.  Mills (1998) explains that critical thinking leads students towards the goal of understanding that conditioning or early learning alone is not sufficient justification for holding a belief. Sanches (1995) states emphatically that many students lack critical thinking skills because they have been encouraged to concentrate on learning content in coursework.  Not even a huge amount of conveyed information will be useful if individuals can not use this to reason about complex and novel topics. Coursework which emphasizes superficial knowledge of material, simple recall, and other lower-level thought processes allows for technocratic thinking, which in turn allows for dominant discourses to remain unchallenged and unexamined. Most valuable of all is the fact that critical thinking skills can be transferred and spontaneously used in different settings while also facilitating the most productive forms of innovation economic development policy experts could ask for. 

More specifically, critical thinking allows human beings to recognize egocentrism and self-deception in thinking.  Most uncritically accept much of what they hear and read, especially when it agrees with their own intensely held beliefs.  Critical thinking allows us to autonomously consider ideas which conflict with those that dominate our society because fair-minded thinking and non-conformity would be valued.  Thus, typical educational standards focusing on learning facts rather than questioning them would also have to be questioned.  Currently, students do no more than memorize isolated statements in the history textbooks in order to pass exams.  Some of these statements students neither understand, nor can they explain, but thus they become part of the students inert information or activated ignorance.  Its also easier to exam students on “high-level” decision-makers (great-person accounts) rather than social processes or circumstances.  Their agendas thus become histories agendas.

The emphasis on critical thinking in education should be an easy one for neoliberal market centric business leaders to understand.  Many gurus of the business elite already stress it in their books and lectures on maximizing profits (Amamson, 2005;Robbins, 2004;Smith, 2003).  Management courses use critical thinking exercises to increase productivity and efficiency (Braun, 2004).  If critical thinking already fits into the paradigm of the dominant hegemonic ideologies discourse, it should be all the easier to mobilize workforce education at the state level to jump on the critical thinking bandwagon. 

The reason I consider this to be the “roll under” phase of neolibealism is because it is a potentially progressive phase which can be ushered into the public policy realm under the guise of neoliberal economic development policies, when they in fact have the potential for real long term effects on the ways people question authority, power and methods of control such as workfare.  Like the “roll over” phase of neoliberalism, the “roll under” phase has the potential to go beyond the space of traditional workforce development policy.  As critical thinking penetrates all levels of society, people will continually think of questions about how their lives could be better and how the world they live in could be improved.  As always, this strategy runs the risk of stabilizing and empowering the neoliberal regime, but I will put my faith in the potential of rigorous critical thinking to empower people to better create the world they live in.

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