ABSTRACT
Abstract In this article, I critically examine calls for reform of public higher education.
I construct a counter-intuitive alliance between the conservatism of twentieth-century
philosopher Michael Oakeshott and the more recent thinking associated with post-
structuralism. It is argued that in Oakeshott and post-structuralism, we find a similar
critique of the idea behind these reforms as imposing instrumental or productivist values
on higher education. What is produced is a type of person organized to produce more and to
demand of herself greater production. This critique is associated with a broader criticism
of liberalism found both in Oakeshott and post-structuralism that the liberal order
produces a normalized and docile individuality. Conversely, it is argued that theories
of higher education in Oakeshott and post-structuralism inform a broader positive idea of
individuality, enacted in a “style,” having intrinsic worth, and never reducible to any
finished form.
