Making sense of the GATS debate : semiòtic analysis of the conflicting ideas on the education/free-trade relationship
Verger, Antoni (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Sociologia)

Date:	2011
Abstract:	The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization has generated an intense and passionate debate about the relationship between free-trade and education and, specifically, about the effects of trade liberalization in national education systems. This article explores in detail this debate from a critical discourse and semiòtic approach. Its objective is two-fold. First, it aims at identifying and systematizing the core axes of the debate, as well as at confronting ideas within each of the axes. Second, it aims at explaining how and why the agreement has generated such an intense and polarized discussion in the educational field by, among other analytical strategies, appealing to the broader institutional and ideational contexts in which the debate is inscribed. Arguments are based on observation in public debates on GATS and education and a corpus of 86 texts on the topic coming from different sources including academic journals, conference proceedings, policy reports and newsletters of international and civil society organizations.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación EDU2008-00816/EDU
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Global Governance ; International Organizations ; Privatization ; GATS ; Education ; Trade in services ; Discourse analysis ; Semiosis ; Commodification
Published in:	International studies in sociology of education, Vol. 21 Núm. 3 (2011) , p. 231-254, ISSN 1747-5066

Adreça alternativa: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09620214.2011.621315
DOI: 10.1080/09620214.2011.621315

Postprint 36 p, 302.6 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Globalisation, Education and Social Policies (GEPS)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles