ABSTRACT
Human capital theory played a pivotal role in national and global education policies during the 20th century. By drawing on American economists Milton Friedman, Theodore Schultz and Gary Becker, the chapter demonstrates as a nationalist project human capital theory contributed to instrumentalization of education for maximization of national economic growth. The theory was subsequently sanctioned by the World Bank and OECD and thus proliferated globally in homogenizing education policies across national borders. The theory marketized human development, schooled policymakers and administrators on economic interests and installed the discourse of economic incentives in curriculum reforms. It further legitimized the imperial role of technological corporations in the remodelling of the industrial schools. The discourses of digitalized schools and techno-centric knowledge economy continue to exploit the impositions of supranational straightjackets of human capital policies and alter citizens in their glocal context.
