Value and the Humanities The Neoliberal University and Our Victorian Inheritance

• Main Author: Bulaitis, Zoe Hope (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2020
• Series: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Economics
• Subjects: Literary theory; Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900; Higher & further education, tertiary education; Economics; Literary Theory; Nineteenth-Century Literature; Higher Education; Cultural Economics; neoliberal university; humanities education; higher education; humanities crisis; economics of education; higher education policy; Victorian literature; Victorian economics; Open Access
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

Tracing the shift from liberal to neoliberal education from the nineteenth century to the present day, this open access book provides a rich and previously underdeveloped narrative of value in higher education in England. Value and the Humanities draws upon historical, financial, and critical debates concerning educational and cultural policy. Rather than writing a singular defence of the humanities against economic rationalism, Zoe Hope Bulaitis constructs a nuanced map of the intersections of value in the humanities, encompassing an exploration of policy engagement, scientific discourses, fictional representation, and the humanities in public life. The book articulates a kaleidoscopic range of humanities practices which demonstrate that although recent policy encourages higher education to be entirely motivated by outcomes, fiscal targets, and the acquisition of employability skills, the humanities continue to inspire and aspire beyond these limits. This book is a historically-grounded and theoretically-informed analysis of the value of the humanities within the context of the market.