Knowledge, power, and academic freedom

Author(s)

• Scott, Joan Wallach

Bibliographic Information

Knowledge, power, and academic freedom

Joan Wallach Scott

（The Wellek Library lectures at the University of California, Irvine）

Columbia University Press, c2019

• : cloth

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-161) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Academic freedom rests on a shared belief that the production of knowledge advances the common good. In an era of education budget cuts, wealthy donors intervening in university decisions, and right-wing groups threatening dissenters, scholars cannot expect that those in power will value their work. Can academic freedom survive in this environment-and must we rearticulate what academic freedom is in order to defend it? This book presents a series of essays by the renowned historian Joan Wallach Scott that explore the history and theory of free inquiry and its value today. Scott considers the contradictions in the concept of academic freedom. She examines the relationship between state power and higher education; the differences between the First Amendment right of free speech and the guarantee of academic freedom; and, in response to recent campus controversies, the politics of civility. The book concludes with an interview conducted by Bill Moyers in which Scott discusses the personal experiences that have informed her views. Academic freedom is an aspiration, Scott holds: its implementation always falls short of its promise, but it is essential as an ideal of ethical practice. Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom is both a nuanced reflection on the tensions within a cherished concept and a strong defense of the importance of critical scholarship to safeguard democracy against the anti-intellectualism of figures from Joseph McCarthy to Donald Trump.

Table of Contents

Introduction: On the Future of Academic Freedom 1. Academic Freedom as an Ethical Practice 2. Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom 3. Civility, Affect, and Academic Freedom 4. Academic Freedom and the State 5. On Free Speech and Academic Freedom Epilogue: In the Age of Trump, a Chilling Atmosphere-an Interview with Joan Wallach Scott by Bill Moyers Notes Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BB27681817
• ISBN:
  • 9780231190466
• LCCN: 2018026113
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: New York
• Pages/Volumes: 171 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : LC72.2
  • DC23 : 378.1/213
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Academic freedom -- United States
  • LCSH : Learning and scholarship -- United States
  • LCSH : Higher education and state -- United States
  • LCSH : Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- United States
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00340782