1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824968003321

Autore

Liu Catherine

Titolo

American idyll : academic antielitism as cultural critique / / Catherine Liu

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Iowa City, : University of Iowa Press, c2011

ISBN

1-60938-051-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (273 p.)

Disciplina

305.5/52097309045

Soggetti

Elite (Social sciences) - United States

Intellectuals - United States

Education, Higher - United States

United States Social conditions 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: populist idylls, cultural politics -- The problem with the meritocracy -- Ordinary Americans, average students -- The curious cult of religious practicality -- Against all experts: no experience necessary -- The new age of cultural studies: crisis in the PMC -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

A trenchant critique of failure and opportunism across the political spectrum, American Idyll argues that social mobility, once a revered hallmark of American society, has ebbed, as higher education has become a mechanistic process for efficient sorting that has more to do with class formation than anything else. Academic freedom and aesthetic education are reserved for high-scoring, privileged students and vocational education is the only option for economically marginal ones.Throughout most of American history, antielitist sentiment was reserved for attacks aga