'The ideology of crisis in higher education' by Bruce Macfarlane in (2024)
Higher Education Quarterly comments
Higher education seems to be in a perpetual state of ‘crisis’. The many hundreds of books and papers containing this specific, or other relevantly similar expressions, convey a sense of fear and angst. Yet, what are these various crises about, and which values and beliefs are seen as threatened or ‘under attack’? This paper will provide an analysis of the ‘crisis’ literature and identify four major crisis themes – massification, marketisation, restitution and geopolitics, linked to their ideological basis and influences—including meritocracy, liberalism, restorative justice, and justice globalism. The second part of the paper analyses the massification crisis in Britain between the 1940s and the 1970s as a case example identifying how the principles of a meritocratic society played an influential role in the debate. It will be argued that the notion of ‘universities in crisis’ needs to be understood critically in terms of ideology and historically via the shifting and reshaping of such beliefs over time.
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Even the most cursory glance at the higher education literature indicates that there are many hundreds of books and papers that refer to the way in which universities are, variously, ‘in crisis’ (e.g. Docking & Curton, 2015; Frank et al., 2019; Lucas, 1998; McNay, 1988; Moberly, 1949; Reeves, 1988; Scott, 1984; Wallerstein & Starr, 1971a, 1971b), ‘under fire’ (Barrett et al., 2019; Bérubé & Nelson, 1995; Cole, 2005; Giroux, 1995; Jones, 2022, etc.), under ‘assault’ (Bailey & Freedman, 2011), under ‘attack’ (Kogan & Kogan, 1983; Giroux, 2009, etc.) and in ‘decline’ (Halsey, 1992). The university is variously described as ‘toxic’ (Smyth, 2017), ‘hopeless’ (Hall, 2020), ‘without a soul’ (Lewis, 2006) and approaching its imminent ‘demise’ (Sykes, 1988) or ‘death’ (Wright & Shore, 2017). Fleming (2021) even refers to the psychological ‘hell’ experienced by students and academics in the contemporary university. Regardless of the extent to which such language is used for rhetorical effect the sense of violent threat being conveyed here indicates that certain normative values are perceived as being at risk. There are many interpretations of the word ‘crisis’ in higher education and a long history in this strand of the literature. The word has been used almost habitually by higher education scholars since at least the 1940s (e.g. Docking & Curton, 2015; Frank et al., 2019; Lucas, 1998; McNay, 1988; Moberly, 1949; Reeves, 1988; Scott, 1984; Wallerstein & Starr, 1971a & 1971b).
Dysoptian prognoses are nothing new and the higher education crisis literature, as Tight (1994) labels it, stretches a long way back. The Crisis in the University by Walter Moberly was published in 1949 while Jefferson Frank and his colleagues published English Universities in Crisis 60 years later in 2019. A sense of impending doom has been a constant in the higher education literature since at least the end of the Second World War and the subject of critical comment and analysis by Bartell (1975) and Tight (1994). Bartell (1975) sagely remarks that few of the issues identified in the literature really threaten the survival of the university, suggesting that such writing is indicative of the changing values of higher education itself.
Academics who write about ‘crisis’ in higher education use an emotive set of expressions featuring words such as assault, ‘attack’, ‘crisis’, ‘demise’, ‘death’ and so on to convey a dramatic sense of urgency and grab attention. Yet, beyond deploying crisis and associated terms as a rhetorical device such language points to a much deeper sense about values that are perceived to be lost, or in need of urgent protection, due to changes taking place in higher education. The use of the word ‘crisis’ sends out a warning that what is precious is being undermined or threatened in some way. Hence, the crisis literature is not merely rhetorical but also fundamentally ideological. There is a considerable literature in political science concerned with ideology but essentially no settled or agreed definition (Duncan, 1987). It is commonly argued though that ideology needs to be understood as a ‘cluster concept’ (Sartori, 1969:398) and is based both on truth claims as well as emotive appeal (eg Kendall, 1981; Giddens, 1983; Duncan, 1987). I will explore both these cognitive and normative elements of ideology as Duncan (1987) describes them in seeking to understand the socio-political values or beliefs that underpin a sense of ‘crisis’ in higher education. This means that it is important to understand the place of higher education's various ‘crises’ in an ideological and historical context and the fact that their basis is far from static. Their nature and foundations are constantly evolving, reflecting changing values about the underlying purposes of higher education linked to ideology. Hence, this paper will explore how to link the use of the word ‘crisis’—and associated vocabulary—with shifting understandings of common values and ideology.
The first part of this paper will develop a typology of crises of higher education with four major strands labelled as massification, marketisation, restitution and geopolitics. Based on an extensive review, these four strands account for the overwhelming majority of the crisis literature internationally, although the principal focal point of analysis is British higher education. This categorisation reveals a sense of crisis based on underlying ideological beliefs and values about what is perceived to be important or under threat. The second part of the paper will examine the history of the massification crisis in a British context, the first of the four types of crisis identified. This crisis centred on arguments about the effects of expanding university places thereby altering the previously highly selective and elite nature of UK higher education. The ideological roots of the massification crisis are closely connected with the principles of a meritocratic society, notably equality of opportunity.
