In Pursuit of the Spectacles of Success: Implications of the Dominant Rationality in the Domain of Education. (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pathak, Dev
• Is Part Of: History and sociology of South Asia. Volume 9:Number 2(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 126
• Page End: 145
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: Spectacle of success -- dominant rationality -- education -- schooling -- ideology; South Asia -- Periodicals; 954.005
• DOI: 10.1177/2230807515572212
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2230-8075

Abstract

The pursuit of success is a leitmotif in the domain of education in India like anywhere else. It is, however, fraught with manifold anomalies. The latter consistently manifest in the news reports, advertisements of the institutes of education, popular cinematic tales, excerpted mythological instance and institutional manoeuvrings of the schools. The anomaly, in short, is expressed in the spectacles of success, a kind of fetish, sustained by the dominant rationality of our times. This article attempts to raise a critical debate on the dominant rationality of spectacular success presiding over the popular conscience and institutions of education in India. The dominant rationality, arguably, ennobles the idea of spectacular success to the level of a fetish. The objective in this paper is to interpretatively explore the critical issues pertaining to the regime of success, and thereof notion of calculability, impinging on the idea of education.