‘Cruel Optimism’ and Contemporary Australian Critical Theory in Educational Research

Abstract‘Cruel optimism’ is a term coined by Lauren Berlant. In conceptualizing this term, Berlant draws on the resources of critical theory to interrogate people’s desires for things they think may improve their lot, but actually act as obstacles to flourishing. This notion may be useful for analysing the current state of education in Australia, and the desire to believe that My School, and the associated data it provides, will enable schools to address social inequalities. For Berlant, the promise of such technologies is problematic because it diverts our attention from important ethical, social and political questions, some of which are highlighted in the contributions to this special issue. Using ‘cruel optimism’ as a point of departure, I interrogate how the notion of critical theory has been conceptualized in educational research by briefly looking at scholarship within and outside education relating to critical theory. Following on from this, I consider how what I am terming critical theory is put to work in each of the articles that make up this special issue on My School.Keywords: Critical TheoryMy School‘cruel optimism’ transformation AcknowledgementsThanks to Richard Niesche for the invitation to participate as a respondent and to the reviewers for their comments.Notes1. When referring to critical theory I have chosen not to capitalize, unless it has already been capitalized in the text from which I am citing. I associate Critical Theory (when capitalized) with the Frankfurt School. In this article I am looking beyond this sphere of influence and endeavouring to define critical theory in a broader sense. See Critical Theory, Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/ <June 2, 2012>.2. For a more complete understanding of the My School see the contributions to this special issue3. Blake and Masschelein (Citation2002) argue that much of critical pedagogy is anathema to Critical Theory because Critical Pedagogy ‘formulates essentially and fundamentally a technological project. Its first step is the formulation of an ideal or utopia, which it uncritically supposes both possible and necessary. It thus remains itself subject to the same instrumental logic that it deplores at the heart of the capitalist system.’