<p> This dissertation examines the interrelationship between higher education and the capitalist socio-economic system in the United States. The central argument is that both the growth of colleges and universities, and the development of a sociology of higher education, have been dependent upon, and serve to support, the historical transformation of the socio-economic system from laissez-faire to corporate capitalism. A socio-economic elite which has dominated the development of scientific knowledge and the growth of college and universities since colonial times, has profitably invested its riches in reshaping higher education to serve the dictates of the new capitalism in its corporate form. An examination of college and university financing, educational philosophy, and the social science practiced by professors shows that these changed to accommodate changes in the socio-economic system. The cumulative emphasis has been, and continues to be, on the production, sale, and consumption of a practical (marketable) knowledge which furthers elite domination of the educational industry. </p> <p> The sociology of higher education, as it has developed over the past twenty years, provides an example of theory which furthers this elite domination. A review of three eminent theorists, Burton R. Clark, David Riesman, and Christopher Jencks, shows how their attempt to make colleges and universities autonomous from the surrounding socio-economic system makes higher edcation increasingly dependent upon, subservient to, that system. Clark's "active" education creates an Academic Revolution based upon the specialized expertise of academic disciplines which Riesman labels "the racecourses of the mind". The sociological raceciurse helps provide Jencks with an individualistic explanation to "accidents" of personality and luck. The argument presented herein suggests these inequalities are legitimated and sustained by the commitment of the education-as-autonomous theorists to a pluralistic ideology which ties the growth of higher education with the prevailing socio-economic arrangements of corporate capitalism. Briefly, the education-as-autonomous thesis developed by Clark, Reisman and Jencks provides a notion of pluralism (widely dispersed power) that encourages and helps to ensure the non-pluralistic domination of higher education by a corporate elite capable of transforming wealth into power. </p> </p> A summary review of the foundations of American sociology underscores the interconnections between this pluralism and German sociologist Max Weber's conception of scientific "objectivity". It is Weber's science, characterizing the sociologist as an objective analyst receptive to all data, rather than the science of Lester Ward and the Americans, which continues to be a major influence on the majority of sociologists educated in the United States. While Weber and Ward both developed a pluralistic science providing ideological support for American capitalism, Weber did so in a manner that seemed more value-natural. Weber was simply more inclined than Ward to make his values supporting the socio-economic structure of capitalism more covert. This supposed value-neutrality of Weber's sociology appeals to social scientists, legitimating and sustaining the professional practice which maintains their privileged position within the current socio-economic order. Weber attempts to make scientists as objectively autonomous from the larger socioeconomic system as the Clark-Riesman-Jencks thesis tries to make the universities. Accordingly, the pluralism of Weber's "constellations of interest" includes superman/wonderwoman sociologists capable of transcending the ordinary by pacifying passion in a professional manner. </p> </p> An examination of this sociological professionalis in two settings, the professional association and the university, indicates the importance of Weber's notion of scholarly objectivity as the central norm governing professional practice. adherence to the objectivity norm is of primary importance in giving rise to the view among many sociologists that sociology as "understanding" cannot be a practice. This conception of sociology has helped promote itself to become "the official view: of social reality--a view that encourages university professors to serve and protect elite interests, interests they recognize as becoming increasingly their own. Professional commitment and responsibility have come to mean participation in the development of Weber's "objective" science which continue to maintain the Clark-Riesman-Jencks myth that universities and professional associates are autonomous, objectively value-neutral and, therefore, apolitical. To act in a professional commitment which has come to mean service to, maintenance of, the socio-economic arrangements of today's corporate capitalism. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/15782 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Nelsen, Randle W. |
| Contributors | Smith, Dusky Lee, None |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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