Universities and the Myth of Cultural Decline - Hardcover

Herron, Jerry

9780814320686: Universities and the Myth of Cultural Decline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814320686 ISBN 13: 9780814320686

Publisher: Wayne State University, 1988

Jerry Herron argues that the vision of culture as an end in itself has been all too thoroughly fulfilled in the present state of humanities education, but only because the humanities have lost their social function. In this book, he attempts to provide a constructive alternative to the nostalgia and pessimism currently prevailing. In Herron's view, the humanities are not really irrelevant; it is that the intellectual and political conversation that they represent is only latent, rather than publicly manifest. The humanities can only be justified in a world of work and power by proving useful in that world. The academic humanities harbor a general intellectual conversation that could potentially be interesting and even useful to society at large. Arguing that the prevailing analyses are wide of the mark, Herron recommends that universities undertake to promote a new cultural literacy. Based on a collaborative enterprise open to all, its focus is the effective sharing of information and experience.

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Book Description:

In this book, he attempts to provide a constructive alternative to the nostalgia and pessimism currently surrounding humanities education.

About the Author:

Jerry Herron, a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, is an assistant professor of English at Wayne State University. He has written articles on popular culture and on literature for several scholarly journals.

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