Abstracts
Abstract
It is no secret that humanities professors find themselves disenchanted by the current state of neoliberal universities; as the story goes, jobs are scarce, enrollment continues to drop, and students seem increasingly disconnected from the value of humanities-based classes. Universities and departments strive for new ways to respond to the current “crisis” in higher education internally, by appealing to the usefulness of the liberal arts, and structurally by institutionalizing the diversity of universities via DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) requirements and offices. On the surface, such measures seem “Deweyan” in spirit, by increasing social diversity, by removing class barriers, and by removing “waste” in the divisions between vocational and humanities studies. However, such responses to neoliberal institutions reproduce the very logic to which they respond and reflect a refusal to think institutionally. Using Dewey’s theories of democracy, growth, and waste, as well as contemporary literatures on the neoliberal university and virtue hoarding in education, we argue that these seemingly Deweyan measures reproduce the problems which they purport to resolve.
Appendices
Bibliography
- Absher, B. (2021). The rise of neoliberal philosophy: Human capital, profitable knowledge, and the love of wisdom. Lanham: Lexington Books.
- Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: racism and diversity in institutional life. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
- Altbach, P. G. (2015). The Carnegie Classification of American higher education: More – and less – than meets the eye. International Higher Education, 80, 21–23.
- American Association of University Professors. (2016). On collegiality as a criterion for faculty evaluation. AAUP Reports and Publications. https://www.aaup.org/report/collegiality-criterion-faculty-evaluation
- Becker, G. S. (1994). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education (3rd Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Blackwood, S. (2023, April 2). Letter from an English department on the brink. New York Review of Books. https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/04/02/letter-from-an-english-department-on-the-brink
- Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. New York: Zone Books.
- Brown, W. (2019). In the ruins of neoliberalism: The rise of antidemocratic politics in the west. New York: Columbia University Press. eBook.
- Bousquet, M. (2008) How the university works: Higher education and the low-wage nation. New York: NYU Press.
- Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2024.). About Carnegie Classification. Retrieved in 2024 from https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu.
- Cho, S. (2006). ‘Unwise,’ ‘Untimely,’ and ‘Extreme’: Redefining collegial culture in the workplace and revaluing the role of social change. UC Davis Law Review, 39(805), 805–851.
- Cooper, M. (2017). Family values: Between neoliberalism and the new social conservatism. Reprint edition. New York: Zone Books.
- Cumming, T., Miller, D.M., & Leshchinskaya, I. (2023). DEI institutionalization: Measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion in postsecondary education. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 55(1), 31–38.
- Defalco, A. A. (2016). Dewey and vocational education: Still timely? Journal of School & Society, 3(1), 54–64.
- Diep, F. (2023, November 1). Carnegie is changing how it classifies R1 institutions. Will your university make the cut? Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/carnegie-is-changing-how-it-classifies-r1-institutions-will-your-university-make-the-cut.
- Dewey, J. (1967–1991). The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882–1953. Edited by J. A. Boydston. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1899/2008). The school and society. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 1: 1899–1901 (pp. 1–109). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1903/2008). Studies in logical theory. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 2: 1902–1903 (pp. 293–375). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1915/2008). Faculty share in university control. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 8: 1915 (pp. 109–116). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1915/2008). Industrial education – A wrong kind. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 8: 1915 (pp. 117–123). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1916/2008). Democracy and education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 9: 1916. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1917/2008). Learning to earn: The case of vocational education in the comprehensive scheme of public education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 10: 1916–1917 (pp. 144–150). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1917/2008). The case of the professor and the public interest. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The Middle Works of John Dewey, Vol. 10: 1916–1917 (pp. 164–167). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1917/2008). The modern trend toward vocational education in its effect upon the professional and non-professional studies of the university. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 10: 1916–1917 (pp. 151–157). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1917/2008). Professional organization of teachers. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 10: 1916–1917 (pp. 167–172). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1918/2008) Vocational education in the light of the World War. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The middle works, 1899–1924. Volume 11: 1918–1919 (pp. 58–69). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1928/2008). Bankruptcy of modern education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, 1925–1953. Volume 3: 1927–1928 (pp. 276–279). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1928/2008). Why I am a member of the teachers union. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, 1925–1953. Volume 3: 1927–1928 (pp. 269–275). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1929/2008). Individualism, old and new. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, 1925–1953. Volume 5: 1929–1930 (pp. 41–123). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1938/2008). Experience and education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, 1925–1953. Volume 13: 1938–1939 (pp. 1–62). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Dewey, J. (1944/2008). Challenge to liberal thought. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, 1925–1953. Volume 15: 1942–1948 (pp. 261–275). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Eastman, N. J., and Boyles, D. (2015). In defense of academic freedom and faculty governance: John Dewey, the 100th anniversary of the AAUP, and the threat of corporatization. Education & Culture, 31(1), 17–43.
- Elon University. (2023). Inclusive excellence at Elon. Division of Inclusive Excellence. www.elon.edu/u/inclusive-excellence.
- Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collége de France, 1978–1979. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Fraser, N. (2013). Fortunes of feminism: from state-managed capitalism to neoliberal crisis. Verso.
- Frazier, K. N. (2011). Academic bullying: A barrier to tenure and promotion for African-American faculty.” Florida Journal of Educational Administration & Policy, 5(1), 2–13.
- Honig, B. (2017). Public things: Democracy in disrepair. New York: Fordham University Press, 2017. eBook.
- Kitcher, P. (2022). The main enterprise of the world: Rethinking education. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kotsko, A. (2018). Neoliberalism’s demons: On the political theology of late capital. Redwood City: Stanford University Press. eBook.
- Liu, C. (2021). Virtue hoarders: The case against the professional managerial class. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Livingston, A., and Quish, E. (2018). John Dewey’s experiments in democratic socialism. Jacobin. https://jacobin.com/2018/01/john-dewey-democratic-socialism-liberalism
- Leonhardt, D., & Wu, A. (2023, September 7). The top U.S. colleges with the greatest economic diversity. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/07/magazine/college-access-index.html
- Marsh, J. (2011, August 28). Why education is not an economic panacea. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Education-Is-Not-an/128790
- McClanahan, A. J. (2017). Becoming non-economic: Human capital theory and Wendy Brown’s Undoing the demos. Theory & Event, 20(2), 510–519.
- McGee, K. (2023, August 3). Top Texas A&M officials were involved in botched recruiting of journalism professor, who will receive $1 million settlement.” Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/03/texas-am-regents-kathleen-mcelroy
- Michaels, W. B., A. Reed, Jäger, A., & Zamora, D. (2023). No politics but class politics. Edited by A. Jäger & D. Zamora. Eris.
- National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). University of California-Berkeley. IPEDS: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/institution-profile/110635
- Newfield, C (2023). Criticism after this crisis: Toward a national strategy for literary and cultural study (MLA Presidential Address, 7 January 2023). Representations, (164), 1–22.
- Powell, M. (2023, September 8). DEI statements stir debate on college campuses. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/us/ucla-dei-statement.html
- Schleck, J. (2022). Dirty freedom: Academic freedom in the age of neoliberalism. University of Nebraska Press.
- Schultz, T. W. (1971). Investment in human capital: The role of education and of research. New York: Free Press.
- Stroud, S. (2013). “Economic experience as art? John Dewey’s lectures in China and the problem of mindless occupational labor.” Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 27(2), 113–133.
- TX SB 17. 2023–2024. 88th Legislature. (2023, June 17). LegiScan. Retrieved February 11, 2024, from https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB17/2023.
- Waks, L. J. (2018). Dewey and Higher Education. In Steven Fesmire (Ed.), Oxford handbook of Dewey. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190491192.013.15
- Wilshire, B. (1990). The moral collapse of the university: Professionalism, purity, and alienation. New York: SUNY Press.