From Publishers Weekly
Capitalism has always been one of America's signature attributes; its principles, rules and rhetoric are an essential part of the country's most vital institutions, including academia. Newfield's dense history shows that, beginning in the late 19th century with the rise of the university as an autonomous institution, the languages of the market and of the university have overlapped-to varying degrees of success and damage. That a force as powerful as America's market economy should have influenced the structure of the research university seems as inevitable as it is obvious; and so, though Newfield's accounting of this process is detailed and well researched, it is hardly groundbreaking. Newfield lays a foundation for exploring the technical relationship between research universities and the corporate entities whose financial support, governing models and culture have influenced them, but soon focuses in on his real target: the professional middle class. Research universities have served the needs of commerce by producing an educated managerial class, but as Newfield notes, "humanism and management are tied together in conflict." A professor of English by trade, Newfield offers a concise and thoughtful consideration of literary criticism's radical response to the industrial world, insightfully concluding that the liberal arts and business culture are also inextricably linked. The university, like the industry to which it is faithfully wed, has played a vital role in shaping this nation, and Newfield, by dissecting that relationship, has made a valuable contribution to the understanding of our culture.
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Review
“Christopher Newfield’s application of the management model and metaphor to the academic scene leads him into what is by far the freshest and most nuanced argument on the corporatization of the university that I can think of.”—Bruce Robbins, author of Secular Vocations: Intellectuals, Professionalism, Culture
“In this compellingly argued book, Christopher Newfield puts current discussions of the corporatization of higher education in a completely new and historically informed light. As Newfield shows, the marriage of ivy and industry is both older and more complex than current critiques of the university have suggested.”—Gerald Graff, author of Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind
“Ivy and Industry makes a seminal contribution to the mounting debate over the role of marketplace values in higher education. In elegant and nuanced prose, Christopher Newfield argues persuasively that for more than a century the American university has both spoken truth to, and been the handmaiden of, power. Those committed to a revitalized liberal education have found their champion.”—David L. Kirp, author of Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education
From the Author
Over the past ten years, there's been a mounting concern over the increasing role business has been playing in higher education. Private funding of scientific research, art exhibitions, clinical trials, and equipment budgets has been growing, and so has the influence of corporate management styles on college administrations. These trends have convinced many people that the university's independence and objectivity are in danger. My book looks at the history of these trends. I show that business and the university have always been close and that there's between a continuous struggle between them on college campuses. I describe a range of remarkable educators who play as important and dramatic a role in building society as do politicians, businesspeople, musicians, and television producers. I explain why discovery, invention and creativity require a strong and independent university dedicated to public service. I wrote this book because I've always been grateful to the university for having opened up a bigger world to me and have wanted as many people as possible to share this experience. At a time when social and human development are more crucial than ever, I hope my book can help discussions of how we can expand higher education to achieve greater intellectual freedom and broader justice.
From the Back Cover
"Christopher Newfield's application of the management model and metaphor to the academic scene leads him into what is by far the freshest and most nuanced argument on the corporatization of the university that I can think of."--Bruce Robbins, author of "Secular Vocations: Intellectuals, Professionalism, Culture"
About the Author
Christopher Newfield is professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Emerson Effect: Individualism and Submission in America and coeditor of Mapping Multiculturalism and After Political Correctness: The Humanities and Society in the 1990s.
