Henry Giroux and the Market's Encroachment into Everything

I've been bothered a while about our local University having sold the name of the sports center to Wells Fargo. You call up and hear, "Wells Fargo Sports Center." The name isn't just in normal lettering on the building, it's in the red Wells Fargo corporate lettering. Inside are logos from many different companies. Listening to an interview with Henry Giroux Monday helped clarify why this bothers me. He argued, among other things, that the market has oozed into totally inappropriate parts of American life. The University, for instance, is supposed to be a neutral space where issues can be debated, but universities are completely marked by corporate presence. How can one have an open debate about the problems of modern banking in a building named after Wells Fargo? Even if you have the debate in another building, the shadow of the Wells Fargo money will inevitably chill the discussion.

Later Monday I got another good example of the invasion of the market. The National Peace Corps Association is highlighting returned Peace Corps volunteers who are "social entrpreneurs." The term was coined to suggest the application of good business techniques to non-profits. However well-intentioned the coiners of the term may have been, this is part of the takeover of English by the market view of the world. We can only think in market terms - where efficiency and profit are the highest values. There's no question non-profit organizations need to manage themselves to make the best use of their resources, and successful non-profit leaders have done this. This isn't a skill that is owned by the private sector. And do we want to be like the entrepreneurs at Enron? So I hope you listen to the interview with Henry Giroux and start paying attention to how the market has encroached into your world and your language. As they say, the bottom line is...