Humanism Betrayed: Theory, Ideology, and Culture in the Contemporary University (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780773521872)

The intellectual trends Good discusses include what he calls the New Sectarianism, which rejects individuality in favour of collective identities based on race, gender, and sexual preference; Presentism, which rejects the notion of history as a continuous narrative in favour of seeing the past as interpretable in any way that suits the political interests of the present; and a "hermeneutic of suspicion," in which literary texts are seen as masks for discreditable political motives. Good demonstrates that these trends culminate in the prison-like "carceral" vision of Michel Foucault and his followers: the view that culture is ideology and that culture does not free humans but incarcerates them. Good contrasts this view with the liberal vision of culture and society represented by Northrop Frye, concluding with an analysis of the relationship between anti-humanist theory among academics and the managerial practices of university administrations, which, he argues, neglect or reject basic humanistic values such as free individuality, aesthetic greatness, and autonomous inquiry.

Author: Graham Good
ISBN-10: 0773521879
ISBN-13: 9780773521872
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/26/2001
Pages: 128
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.94h x 5.96w x 0.40d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2001 pg. 176