Value and the Humanities: The Neoliberal University and Our Victorian Inheritance

Abstract

The book engages with crucial contemporary debates about the future for the humanities. It is highly significant given the widespread attention currently being directed towards this area both in terms of public debate and academic research. 'Value and the Humanities' traces the shift from liberal to neoliberal education from the nineteenth century to the present day, in order to provide a rich and previously underdeveloped narrative of value in higher education in England. Rather than attempting to justify the value of the humanities within presiding economic frameworks, or writing a defence against market rationalism, this book offers an original contribution through an immersion in historical, financial, and critical debates concerning educational policy. 'Value and the Humanities' specifically engages with the context of higher education in the UK although the arguments have international repercussions. Drawing upon close reading and discursive analysis, the book constructs a nuanced map of the intersections of value in the humanities. The discussion encompasses an exploration of policymaking practices (chapter one), scientific discourse (chapter two), mediated representations (chapter three), and public cultural life (chapter four). The overarching argument of the book is that reflecting on Victorian legacies of economism and public accountability enables us to reconsider valuation cultures in higher education in the twenty-first century. Each chapter explores interconnections and inheritances of the nineteenth-century, including topics such as liberalism, economic policy, the expansion of education, accountability, and the expansion of public cultural institutions. Instead of being an assertion of the traditional value of the humanities, as a democratic force, as an intrinsic good, as valued beyond account, 'Value and the Humanities' embraces and interrogates the present entanglement of economics that the academy finds itself in.