ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cascade from forms of detachment, toxicity, and dys-function, to forms of institutional violence and organisational dysfunction via the question: what is animating or permitting all of this?From the perspective of critical theory, the chapter addresses how we might begin to puncture the 'new political economy' in three ways. First, there is the concealment of interests. Second, there is what some call the instrumentalisation of everything. Third, there is what might be described as a cauterising or extirpation of critical reflective thought and action. Organisational malfeasance, toxic and zombie leadership, and maladministration all receive their warrants, remits, and licences from a higher authority than mere rogue or pathological individuals. Springer offers an account of 'the violence of neoliberalism' that is relevant institutionally within educational organisations. In the realm of education, this means that 'the policy rhetoric diagnoses the crisis in terms of the need to improve economic competitiveness, and a concomitant concern about educational standards'.
