Mark Olssen is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences (FACSS) and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and Education Policy in the Department of Politics at the University of Surrey. His most recent book is Constructing Foucault's Ethics: A Poststructuralist Moral Theory for the Twenty-First Century (Manchester University Press, 2021).

• Foreword: Critique, Ethics, LearningStephen J. BallSeries Editor's Foreword: Mark Olssen: Foucauldian Social DemocratMichael A. PetersPrefacePART 1: Michel Foucault1 Foucault and the Imperatives of Education1 Introduction2 Foucault and Kant3 Rejecting Kantian Foundationalism4 Critique as a Historicophilosphical Practice5 Critique as How Not to Be Governed6 Criticism as Practical Politics7 Foucault and Critique in Education: Some Illustrations8 Critique in a Non-Foundational World: A Question of Method2 Discourse, Complexity, Normativity: Tracing the Elaboration of Foucault’s Materialist Concept of Discourse1 A Brief Introduction to Foucault’s Methods2 From the Early to the Late Foucault3 An Incorporeal Materialism4 Resisting Hegelian Assumptions of Unity5 Foucault’s Poststructuralism6 Foucault Contra Habermas: Overcoming Relativism by Adding the Concept of LifePART 2: Foucault, Marx, Hegel3 Foucault and Marxism: Rewriting the Theory of Historical Materialism1 Introduction2 Marxist Preliminaries: A Brief Summation3 Reconceptualising Determination4 Change and Determination5 Monism and Pluralism6 Complexity, Chance, Pluralism: Appropriating Nietzsche to Correct Marx7 Complexity and Openness8 The Nature of Identity9 Diffference and Community10 Conclusion4 Marx, Education and the Possibilities of a Fairer World: Reviving Radical Political Economy through FoucaultMark Olssen and Michael A. Peters1 Introduction2 Marx’s Radical Political Economy3 Foucault’s Radical Political Economy4 Governmentality Studies5 Neoliberalism and the Birth of Biopolitics6 Towards a Possible Foucauldian Politics7 From Governmentality to the Hermeneutics of the Self as Education5 In Conversation with Mark Olssen: On Foucault with Marx and HegelRille Raaper and Mark OlssenPART 3: Social Democracy in the 21st Century6 From the Crick Report to the Parekh Report: Multiculturalism, Cultural Difference and Democracy: The Re-visioning of Citizenship Education1 Introduction: The Crick Report2 Iris Marion Young and the Politics of Cultural Diffference3 The Crick Report and the Politics of Cultural Diffference4 The Parekh Report on the Future of Multi-ethnic Britain: Multi-Ethnic Citizenship5 Adding the Parekh Report to the Crick Report7 In Defence of the Welfare State and Publicly Provided Education: A New Zealand Perspective1 Neoliberalism and New Zealand Education2 The Failure of Market Theories3 Alternatives4 Conclusion8 Education Policy, the Cold War and the “Liberal–Communitarian” Debate1 Introduction2 Classical Liberalism3 Classical Economic Liberalism4 Utilitarianism5 The Moment of Equality in Liberal Theory: John Rawls6 The Unsatisfactory Basis of Rawls’s Theory7 The Communitarian Response to Liberal Frameworks8 Communitarianism and the Philosophers of the Cold War9 Communitarianism and School Choice10 Conclusion9 Social Democracy, Complexity and Education: Perspectives from the Writings of John Atkinson Hobson and John Maynard Keynes1 The Philosophy of John Atkinson Hobson2 Complexity Theories3 Hobson and Keynes4 Complexity and EducationPART 4: Neoliberal Governmentality10 Neoliberalism and Laissez-Faire: The Retreat from Naturalism1 The Problem of Laissez-Faire in Neoliberal Thought2 Foucault, Röpke and Neoliberalism3 Hayek and Neoliberalism4 Planning and the Rule of Law5 A Critique of Hayek’s Concept of Planning6 Knowledge and Planning7 Lars Cornelissen on Hayek and Democracy8 Education11 Neoliberal Competition in Higher Education Today: Research, Accountability and Impact1 Introduction2 Research and Accountability3 From Bad to Worse: The REF and the Impact of Research4 Neoliberalism and Democracy12 Foucault and Neoliberalism: A Response to Recent Critics and a New Resolution1 Introduction2 Criticisms of Foucault3 Rescuing Foucault4 Neoliberal “Biopower” as a Form of “Positive” State Power5 A Possible Resolution: Adam Ferguson and the Concept of Civil Society as a Category in Governmentality6 ConclusionPART 5: Complexity, Democracy, Ethics13 Foucault as Complexity Theorist: Overcoming the Problems of Classical Philosophical Analysis1 Introduction2 Complexity and Openness3 The Nature of Identity4 Holism–Particularism, Uniqueness and Creativity14 Exploring Complexity through Literature: Reframing Foucault’s Research Project with Hindsight15 Complexity and Learning: Implications for Teacher Education1 An Introduction to the Science of Complexity2 The Normative Consequences of Complexity for Learning and Teacher Education3 A Possible Ethical Theory for a Complex Global SocietyPART 6: Political Theory in the 21st Century16 Globalisation, the Third Way and Education Post-9/11: Building Democratic Citizenship1 Introduction2 Neoliberalism, Globalisation and the Move to the “Third Way”3 What Is Globalisation?4 A New Political Settlement?5 Totalitarianism6 Rights Talk7 A New Multicultural Cosmopolitanism8 Democracy9 Deepening Democracy through Education17 Totalitarianism and the “Repressed” Utopia of the Present: Moving beyond Hayek and Popper with Foucault1 Introduction2 Hayek and Popper: Utopianism, Planning and Holistic Engineering3 Karl Popper: “Utopian” and “Piecemeal” Engineering4 Utopianism and the Totalitarian State5 The Poverty of the Liberal Critique of Totalitarianism6 Foucault and Totality7 Reconceptualising Utopianism Post-9/118 Conclusion18 Wittgenstein and Foucault: The Limits and Possibilities of Constructivism1 Introduction2 Social and Individual Constructions3 Idealism4 Objectivity, Truth and Relativism5 The Centrality of Language and Discourse6 Foucault as Constructivist7 Conclusion19 Invoking Democracy: Foucault’s Conception (with insights from Hobbes)1 Introduction2 Liberty, Ethics and Domination3 Rights as a Historico-Political Discourse4 Contestation and Deliberation5 Extending Foucault and Democracy Post-9/11