Faculty Publications

‘If you Love Teaching so Much … ’ Teaching Against the Injunctions of the Capitalist State and Refusing the Weaponization of Love

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Class, demoralization, love, state, teachers’ work

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Critical Studies in Education

Abstract

This paper explores the role of injunctions, their relation to education policy, capitalist relations of production, and teaching. As forms of command, injunctions are a lubricant for policy orientations, and they operate within and produce social relations that are tethered to modes of production. I focus on two injunctions—’Just Be Yourself!’ and ‘Love Your Job!’—and show how they operate as ways of making the teacher and shaping conduct from within to constitute ways of being for capital. I suggest that these injunctions operate in service of a larger class war and necessitate collective study, astute problem framing, organization, and revolutionary practice.

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Original Publication Date

2-26-2025

DOI of published version

10.1080/17508487.2025.2470380

Link to Full Text

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