Field-crossing social capital and patronage as cornerstones of the transnational OECD-PISA network infrastructure

Abstract

ABSTRACT The OECD is a key player in global education policy advice and part of the edu-business network. This network comprises of companies, philanthropies, consulting agencies and think tanks profiting from educational governance reforms and large-scale testing. This article investigates the structure of the OECD global policy network and its capability to bring together different types of expertise. To map the global policy advisors network, we introduce the concepts of boundary-spanning actors and field-crossing social capital. Using network analysis, we apply these concepts to investigate the embeddedness of the OECD in different social fields and the global field of power. Our findings indicate that the global network of policy advisors coordinates different forms of expertise by installing a system of patronage, consisting of a small number of key players and large numbers of actors that set education reforms in motion. We exemplify this result with McKinsey & Company.