The deception of the ‘idea of self-responsibility’ and ‘individualization’: neo-liberal rhetoric as revealed in the corporatization of Japan’s national universities
Minoru IWASAKI (Translated by Aaron MOORE)
Abstract
This paper will focus on the neo-liberal 'reforms' of Japanese higher education that have taken the form of incorporating national universities, and are now entering a decisive stage one year afterwards. I will also describe the devastation that has resulted from university incorporation. From these descriptions, I will demonstrate how the incorporation of national universities is a typical example of neo-liberal control in present day Japan. Moreover, we will then be able clearly to see the current situation of the weakening of Japanese intellectuals.
Keywords: neo-liberal reform; corporatization; national universities
Author’s biography
Minoru IWASAKI is a professor of philosophy and political thought at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. His most recent publication is Fifty Famous Writers of Postwar Thought (2006).