Social and political forces
The political and social environments also appear to be undergoing important changes.
There has been a loosening of bonds of democracy.
The infrastructure of civil society also has been impaired.
Analysts discern fairly significant tears in the fabric known as "Modern civil society".
As a consequence of this basic shifts-the weakening of democracy and the deterioration of civil society, especially in conjunction with the ideological space that they share with economic fundamentalism-important sociopolitical trends have begun to emerge: first, an increasing sense of personal insecurity and unease in the life; third shifts in the boundaries-both real and symbolic-between the state and alternative sociopolitical structures; and finally, an expanding belief that the enhancement of social justice through collective action, especially public action, is unlikely.
One strand of this evolving sociopolitical mosaic is plummeting public support for government.
Citizens are becoming disconnected from and frustrated with government and politics.
They lack faith in public officials, and they are skeptical of the bureaucratic quagmire of professional control that defined education for almost all of the twentieth century .
The ideological footings of the emerging sociopolitical infrastructure are also becoming increasingly visible. The one piece of the foundation that shines most brightly is what describes as the "ascendancy of the theory of the social market" a theory that is anchored on the "Supreme value [of] individual liberty ". This emerging high regard for individualism and liberty is both an honoring of the individual and discrediting of collective action.
Social market theory suggests "reduced role for government, greater consumer control, and a belief in efficiency and individuality over equity and community". It includes the privileging of private over public delivery a diminution in the power of government agents and professional experts.