Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Corporate World (Page 13 of 14)

These are posts on the corporate world from the blog Base and Superstructure. The corporate world is complex. It’s confusing to anyone not involved. Corporate life has its own characteristic forms, language, jargon, and mannerisms. Neoliberalism structures our politics and thought, and so this is also a major focus of these posts. The non-profit corporate sector is its own distinct mini-world. And, in particular, spending significant time involved in corporate life engenders a special form of ennui. All of these subtopics feed off of one another. Each is critical to thinking about corporate life and its role in the United States.

learning outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes: What’s the Deal?

August 26, 2019 /

Learning outcomes are all the rage in the education industry. They’ve been so for some time on the accreditation and assessment side of things. But now they’re everywhere even among colleges and universities, especially among less prestigious institutions.

I’ve worked on both of these sides of the education industry. Sometimes even at the same time. What’s this ‘student learning outcomes’ stuff all about?

Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll start with a New York Times editorial. Molly Worthen paints a vivid picture of what learning outcomes look like from a faculty perspective. I’ll fill in some thoughts from the non-profit educational management and assessment side of things. That’s where I’m working these days, anyway.

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the pleasures and sorrows of work

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

August 5, 2019 /

About ten years ago, Alain de Botton wrote a book called The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. It’s a perfectly fine book, not a great book. From the great tradition of writing about working, I far prefer the live interviews of Studs Terkel. And so, I’d greatly recommend his book Working.

But there’s something I do find admirable about de Botton’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Especially insofar as it says something about working in a corporate office.

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standardized testing
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thedavisblog/2230010178

Standardized Testing: Progressive or Not?

February 25, 2019 /

About a year ago, Freddie deBoer wrote what he called the ‘progressive case‘ for the SAT. Mostly he used the SAT as a convenient stand-in for standardized testing in its American form.

DeBoer’s take on this was provocative and surprising. He took some flak. The general “left” line has been against standardized testing. And it has become one of several points at which liberals and leftists depart: the liberal as the technocratic tester, set against the leftist as the advocate for a free and democratic classroom sans test.

I find this all rather oversimplified. Here I’ll evaluate both deBoer’s argument in favor of a ‘progressive’ view of standardized testing and leftist arguments in favor of a ‘regressive’ view of standardized testing.

I find both arguments lacking.
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intellectuals invisible
Source: william (https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2387488)

The Invisibility of Intellectuals

February 18, 2019 /

Fifty-two years ago, Noam Chomsky published an article in the New York Review of Books on the responsibility of intellectuals. He rebuked intellectuals for the way they supported and justified the Vietnam War. And that they did so despite having the social privilege and influence to push American power in different directions.

With respect to the responsibility of intellectuals, today we live in a different world. I’ll argue that it’s invisibility that defines the intellectual now. Whether intellectuals defend and justify American atrocities is, in a way, beside the point. Because American power no longer relies on intellectuals in the ways it once did.

From there, I’ll sketch some thoughts about how to address this new world.

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Leaving Academia: A Guide

February 4, 2019 /
leaving academia

Source: Dnalor 01 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Dnalor_01)

Some of you probably know I have some experience with leaving academia. It’s a gradual process. I started having doubts about an academic career around 2010 or 2011. When I went on the job market in 2011 and 2012, I searched both academic and non-academic jobs.

I landed a non-academic job in early 2013. For a few years, I taught-part time as a Visiting Assistant Professor while working a non-academic job. My last paycheck from a university was in January 2016, and my most recent academic publication (which I’ve summarized) was in the summer of 2016.

So that’s my basic leaving academia narrative. I’ve also done a couple of interviews.

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