The False Promise of Market-Based Conceptions of Human Capital: Higher Education as a Public and Private Good

This chapter explores some of the challenges facing higher education in both China and the United States. Human capital theory is critically explored in terms of its role as a justification for the shift towards academic capitalism for higher education institutions. An argument is made for expanding the notion of higher education’s role in supporting the development of human capital as both a “private” and a “public” good.