Value And The Humanities: The Neoliberal University And Our Victorian Inheritance

Preface......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Contents......Page 11
List of Figures......Page 16
Chapter 1: Introduction......Page 17
1.1 Part I: The State of the Debate......Page 19
1.1.1 Critical University Studies......Page 20
1.1.2 The Public Value of the Humanities......Page 21
1.1.3 Social Impact Studies......Page 22
1.2 Part II: The Relationship with the Past: From Liberal to Neoliberal Education......Page 23
1.2.1 Describing 2008–18 as the Present Moment in Higher Education......Page 24
1.2.2 Economic Value as a Monoculture Under Neoliberalism......Page 26
1.2.3 The Dominance of Economic Value Within Higher Education......Page 28
1.2.4 Arguing Against Crisis in the Humanities......Page 30
1.3.1 Articulating the Values of a Liberal Education......Page 33
1.3.2 Speaking of Liberal Values in the Neoliberal University......Page 38
1.4.1 How Can Critically Reading Policy Help Scholars Understand a Culture of Economism?......Page 42
1.4.3 How Can Fiction Act as a Reflective Tool for Articulating Value?......Page 43
1.4.4 How Are the Academic Humanities Connected to Other Cultural Institutions?......Page 44
Bibliography......Page 45
2.1 Introduction......Page 51
2.2 Part I: Lowe’s Code......Page 53
2.2.1 The Newcastle Commission......Page 54
2.2.2 Robert Lowe and Economic Motivations......Page 58
2.2.3 Critical Responses to Payment by Results......Page 63
2.3 Part II: The Browne Report......Page 68
2.3.1 Contextualising the Browne Report: The Move Towards Minimal Government Involvement in Higher Education......Page 70
2.3.2 National Economic Motivations......Page 72
2.3.3 National Gains: The Debate Concerning Tangible Knowledge......Page 75
2.3.4 The Rise of Individualism and the Student as Consumer......Page 79
2.4 Conclusion......Page 89
Bibliography......Page 91
3.1 Introduction......Page 97
3.2.1 Present Policy Preferences......Page 98
3.2.2 A Brief History of an Age-Old Argument......Page 101
3.3 Part II: The “Two Cultures Controversy”, Then and Now......Page 102
3.3.1 The Birth of a Controversy......Page 104
3.3.2 The Form of the Debate......Page 107
3.3.3 The Two Cultures Today......Page 110
3.4 Part III: A Liberal Valuation: Arnold and Huxley’s Exchange......Page 111
3.4.1 The Start of a Conversation......Page 112
3.4.2 “Darwin’s Bulldog” and “Our Chief Apostle of Culture”......Page 116
3.4.3 Articulating the Value of a Liberal Education......Page 118
3.4.4 Conclusion......Page 120
Bibliography......Page 123
4.1 Introduction......Page 128
4.2 Part I: Using Academic Fiction as a Discursive Tool......Page 129
4.3.1 Understanding the Appeal of Academic Fiction......Page 132
4.3.2 Situation and Settings for the Academic Novel......Page 136
4.3.3 Subject Matter and Style in Academic Fiction......Page 140
4.4 Part III: Investigation One: The Qualities of a Liberal Education......Page 143
4.4.1 The Qualities of an Education in Tom Brown at Oxford......Page 144
4.4.2 The Secret History: A Classical Education Out of Time......Page 149
4.4.3 Assessing the Value of the Humanities in Novels That Engage with Educational Principles from the Past......Page 156
4.5 Part IV: Investigation Two: Representing the Processes of Humanities Research......Page 157
4.5.1 Middlemarch and the Pursuit of The Key to All Mythologies......Page 158
4.5.2 Possession and the Processes of Scholarship......Page 163
4.5.3 Assessing the Value of the Humanities in Novels That Explore the Process of Writing and Research......Page 166
4.6.1 Jude the Obscure and Barriers to Education......Page 168
4.6.2 Frank Parkin’s The Mind and Body Shop: Everything for Sale......Page 172
4.6.3 The Future of a Liberal Education in Zadie Smith’s On Beauty......Page 177
4.7 Conclusion......Page 181
Bibliography......Page 182
5.1 Introduction......Page 191
5.2 Part I: Debates in Public Access, Use, and Accountability in the Victorian Museum......Page 197
5.2.1 Defining Foucauldian Governmentality......Page 198
5.2.2 National Interests in the Public Museum: Governance and Powers of Display......Page 200
5.2.3 The British Museum: The Rise of Debates in Public Accountability and Access......Page 204
5.2.4 The Rise of Accountability: Quantification as Justification in the Victorian Museum......Page 212
5.2.5 Conclusions, Regarding the Victorian Public Museum......Page 215
5.3 Part II: Public Expenditure and Public Values......Page 216
5.3.1 “There Is No Alternative”: The Rise of Economic Models of Valuation in the Cultural Sector......Page 217
5.3.2 New Public Management......Page 218
5.3.3 Responses from the Cultural Sector......Page 220
5.3.4 The Arts and the Economy Embroiled: The Rise of the Creative Industries......Page 226
5.4 Part III: REF-Lections for the Academic Humanities......Page 231
5.4.1 Reinforcing National Interests Within the Impact Agenda......Page 232
5.4.2 The Focus on Outputs and Impacts Misrepresents the Value of the Humanities......Page 233
5.4.3 “The System Does Not Speak for Me”......Page 235
5.4.4 The Humanities and the Creative Industries......Page 237
5.5 Part IV: A Response from the Humanities......Page 239
5.6 Conclusion......Page 243
Bibliography......Page 245
6.2 Part I: Reflections on Questions of Value......Page 255
6.3 Part II: Future Directions for Research......Page 257
6.4 Part III: Voices of the Humanities, and a Call to Arms......Page 259
6.5 Part IV: The Need for the Humanities in an Age of Populism......Page 260
Bibliography......Page 261
Index......Page 263