A COVID-19 panacea in digital technologies? Challenges for democracy and higher education

Abstract

Universities have transitioned to online education in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. This transition mobilizes the technological utopian imaginary that digital technologies can rescue populations from the disease. It also raises the risk of deepening neoliberal educational reforms and, by extension, poses a threat to democracy itself. This commentary explores this risk and suggests ways to resist the resulting neoliberalization of education that it could entail.