Page 43 - Education in a Digital World

30 Theoretical Approaches

book. Any analysis of education and technology must also pay attention to the
importance of individual perceptions and ‘lived experiences’ of education and
technology. The ways in which digital technologies are likely to be understood
and reacted to may also be influenced by previous educational arrangements
and previous histories of technology use. Similarly, a number of non-human local
issues are also of significance, such as local differences in space, topography and
quality of physical infrastructure. In all these respects, educational technology must
be understood as party to influence and interpretation by a complex of local,
national and international interests.

The Benefits of the Political Economy Approach

While the comparative approach provides us with a rich framework for analysing
education, technology and globalisation, other theoretical traditions are also worthy
of consideration. In particular it is important that any analysis of educational
technology does not become overly focused on educational processes and practices at
the expense of considering wider economic and political influences. If we are to
understand fully the dynamics of how globalisation influences an area of educational
policy and practice such as educational technology, then we need to look beyond
the traditional ‘educational’ concerns of curriculum and pedagogy, teaching and
learning. In addressing the topic, our interest in ‘education’ is obviously broader than
simply what goes on inside the four walls of the school, college or university.
Here, then, the political economy approach can be of considerable use in
explaining the changing nature and form of education and technology in recent
times. As its title suggests, the political economy tradition directs attention towards
the mutual influence of political and economic interests and issues on society. As
Vincent Mosco (2009, p.4) puts it, “the political economist asks: how are power
and wealth related and how are these in turn connected to cultural and social life?”
Political economy, therefore, highlights questions of production and consumption,
the function of marketplaces and the role of commerce and commercial actors.
Most importantly, it seeks to establish the links between these issues and the interests
of national and global economic organisations. Political economy analyses can
therefore offer an important reminder of the power relations between educational
technology and economics. Of course, it is important not to be seduced into a total
state of ‘economism’ where issues of economics and economy are allowed to
overshadow all other issues. As Bernard Stiegler (2010, p.7) reminds us, for the
political economist “the question is as political as it is economic”. Therefore, the
best political economy accounts aim to unpack what Stiegler terms ‘the totality of
social relations’ between economic, political, social and cultural areas of life.
As implied above, the political economist tends to understand these social relations
as being organised primarily around the operation of power. One of the key aims of
the political economy approach, therefore, is to make explicit issues of power
within society. Political economy analysts will often concern themselves with