Asylum of the Abandoned

Abstract This paper offers a critical organizational critique of Peter F. Drucker’s managerial philosophy, particularly as articulated in The Post-Capitalist Executive , asserting that the widespread adoption of "Druckerism" functions as a hegemonic ideology within the context of neoliberal globalization. The analysis argues that Drucker fundamentally misdiagnosed the evolving economic structure, mistaking the intensification of flexible accumulation and global value chain stratification for a post-capitalist democratic shift in ownership. Furthermore, the paper utilizes Foucauldian analysis to challenge Drucker's central tenet that "information is replacing authority," demonstrating that contemporary managerial power is not diminished but rather dispersed and intensified through systemic, disciplinary technologies and biopolitical control. Concluding with a...

Introduction: Path Dependency and the Contested American Welfare State The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 represents the most significant structural revision of the American healthcare financing system since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. This analysis critically posits that the ACA is fundamentally a product of path dependency —a set of compromises constrained by decades of institutionalized market logic and ideological resistance—rather than a commitment to universal public health. The core objective of the ACA was insurance market stabilization and expansion , seeking to engage approximately 20 million previously uninsured citizens into a heavily regulated private insurance market. This paper argues that the ACA’s foundational reliance on neoliberal market mechanisms —namely the individual mandate, competitive exchanges, and targeted su...

Abstract This paper critically examines the organizational restructuring of Governors State University (GSU) from an upper-division institution to a four-year comprehensive university, utilizing critical organizational analysis within the context of neoliberal university governance. The analysis posits that GSU’s strategic expansion, while aimed at increasing access, risks undermining its core mission of social justice by normalizing the student-as-customer model and the associated debt crisis. Drawing upon Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 1970) and Social Movement Theory (McAdam et al., 1996), the paper compares GSU’s organizational capacity for participatory democracy against the successful mass mobilization of the 2012 Quebec student movement (Maple Spring). The findings suggest that bureaucratic structures inherently limit collective engagement, contributing to a crisis of legitimacy...

Introduction The socioeconomic divergence of geographically proximate suburbs in the post-industrial American landscape provides a critical lens for examining the persistence of spatial inequality. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of Harvey, Illinois, and Glenwood, Illinois, two southern Chicagoland suburbs, using the theoretical frameworks of Urban Political Ecology and Cumulative Causation. Though sharing similar regional histories of deindustrialization, the two communities exhibit profoundly different outcomes across key socioeconomic indicators: population trends, educational attainment, median home value, and crime risk. The core hypothesis posits that the current disparity is not merely a consequence of disparate demographics but the result of a cumulative causation cycle wherein initial tax base erosion led to diminished municipal capacity, accelerating concentrat...

Introduction: The Policy Problem of Structural Fragility Chicago Heights, Illinois, represents a compelling case study in the structural volatility and endemic policy challenges facing post-industrial suburbs. Historically established in 1890, the city’s political evolution reflects broader socio-economic shifts, particularly the relocation of industry and the subsequent layering of ethnic and racial power dynamics (Candeloro, 2004). The core policy problem is that shifting electoral systems, pervasive historical corruption, and the erosion of traditional civil society have produced a condition of sustained political fragility and civic decay, directly impeding the municipality’s ability to ensure distributive justice and social equity for its diverse population. This paper moves beyond a chronological recounting of governmental changes to apply a critical theoretical lens, demo...

Abstract Corporal punishment (CP) is frequently debated based on its proximal effectiveness as a behavioral deterrent; however, a graduate-level analysis requires examining its distal effects on psychological development. This paper argues that CP functions not merely as a disciplinary tool, but as a mechanism of authoritarian control that fundamentally shifts a child’s locus of control and moral reasoning schema. Drawing on Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), Moral Development Theory (Kohlberg, 1984), and specifically the paradigm of Obedience to Authority established by the Milgram experiments (1974), this analysis posits that CP trains a child to obey due to the immediate, external threat of physical pain rather than the internalization of pro-social values. This reliance on external power structures inhibits the development of principled reasoning and fosters a dependenc...

Abstract Atheism, often simplistically defined as the absence of theistic belief, lacks the conventional positive attributes of a cohesive subculture: a shared doctrine, sacred texts, or unified community norms (Putnam 2011). This paper argues that the central cohesive principle underlying overt atheist identity is negative boundary work , a key sociological process where the group's identity is constructed primarily through explicit opposition to the dominant external reference group, which is institutional religion and theism. By applying Identity Theory and the concept of secular visibility, this study categorizes atheist expression into three modes—Militant, Pragmatic, and Apathetic/Private—demonstrating that these modes represent varying levels of political mobilization and socio-cultural engagement with the dominant religious order. The paper concludes that atheism is bes...

Introduction: The Necessary Distinction The vastness of the cosmos, encompassing stars, planets, and galaxies, challenges human attempts to impose linear, finite narratives upon it. While human existence is framed by the finite journey from birth to death, the cosmological story defies typical narrative structures of beginning, middle, and end. Within this context, the Anthropic Principle (AP) attempts to transform the observation of a life-permitting universe into a statement of cosmic design. For clarity, we must distinguish between its two forms: The Weak Anthropic Principle (WAP): States that the observed values of all physical and cosmological quantities are restricted by the requirement that they must allow for the existence of carbon-based life and observers. This is a non-controversial statement of a selection effect —we can only observe a universe that can produce us. Th...