Questioning Neoliberal Capitalism and Economic Inequality in Business Schools

Abstract

The burgeoning economic inequality between the richest and the poorest is a cause of concern for social, political, and ethical reasons. While businesses are both implicated and affected by growing inequality, business schools have largely neglected to subject the phenomenon to sufficient critique. This is, in part, because far too many management educators rely on orthodox economic perspectives—often represented by neoliberal capitalism—which have dominated the curricula and the teaching philosophy of business schools. To address this issue, we underscore the need for business schools to critically examine the relationship between neoliberal capitalism and economic inequality, and to overtly engage with this nexus in pedagogical practice. We conclude by revisiting the concepts of relationality and answerability as paths by which to address the current predicament. Relationality and answerability collectively offer (1) conceptual and reflexive tools by which to reimagine business school education, and, (2) space for business schools to debate important questions about the taken-for-granted, but problematic, assumptions underlying the ideology of neoliberal capitalism.

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