Genealogies of Autonomy: Schooling and the Politics of Civic Subject Formation

Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Garsten, Bryan

Abstract

Over the last two decades, U.S. policymakers have come to regard emotional and behavioral regulation as a central element of public education. They argue that social and emotional skills are essential for fostering autonomy, a key purpose of liberal democratic schooling. The widespread adoption of these policies has produced disagreement over their moral content and the broader aims of an American democratic education. While some on the political right have labeled these policies “unlicensed therapy” and “identity ideology,” others on the left argue that such policies promote equity, care, and contribute to “safe, healthy, and just communities.” This dissertation places these debates within a long liberal tradition that views education as one of, if not the most important site for the development of democratic character. In this dissertation I provide an account of how recent efforts to cultivate individual autonomy organize a wide range of school practices. I argue that these efforts—sometimes explicitly stated but often implicitly assumed—structure the educational landscape in ways that, despite their liberal rhetoric, frequently conflict with the very commitments they claim to uphold. While educational policies are often justified through implicit appeals to widely held liberal values such as responsibility, choice, self-management, and autonomy, I argue that the disconnect between policy and liberal rhetoric reflects a broader sociological shift in which liberal individualism is being reassessed across the political spectrum. Some view liberal individualism as inadequate for fostering civic virtue and moral communities, while others see it as insufficient for addressing the growing crises of atomization, loneliness, and social fragmentation—though the neoliberal solutions proposed to address these issues often prove equally ineffective. In either case, liberal individualism is seen as inadequate for confronting our current political reality. This dissertation makes two major contributions. First, it shows how the mobilization of liberal rhetoric reflects the broader ideological landscape of contemporary liberalism. By analyzing how this language is operationalized in school policies, the dissertation sheds light on the evolving nature of the liberal subject, and contributes to a larger discussion about the transformation of liberal ideals and their role in democratic governance and the creation of democratic citizens. Second, it deepens our understanding of how language and political power intersect—the way we talk about education has consequences, shaping our evaluative standards of what is reasonable, effective, and desirable.Through the lens of education, this dissertation examines how ideological, social, economic, political, and affective forces converge to shape subjectivity. Mapping a terrain of political contestation through an analysis of educational discourse, the dissertation also makes two important methodological contributions: (1) it challenges theory-centric approaches to education by emphasizing language and discourse as a crucial influence shaping social reality, and (2) it challenges empirical approaches to education by questioning the categories of analysis that researchers and practitioners tend to take for granted.

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