Abstract

Can the ivory tower rise above capitalism? Or are the humanities and social sciences merely handmaids to the American imperial order? The Capitalist University surveys the history of higher education in the United States over the last century, revealing how campuses and classrooms have become battlegrounds in the struggle between liberatory knowledge and commodified learning.

Henry Heller takes readers from the ideological apparatus of the early Cold War, through the revolts of the 1960s and on to the contemporary malaise of postmodernism, neoliberalism and the so-called 'knowledge economy' of academic capitalism. He reveals how American educational institutions have been forced to decide between teaching students to question the dominant order and helping to perpetuate it. The Capitalist University presents a comprehensive overview of a topic which affects millions of students in America and increasingly, across the globe.
'Thought-provoking and inspiring'
Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary
'The Capitalist University is a tour de force -- a welcome successor to Thorstein Veblen's classic The Higher Education in America. Heller carefully explains how the university system is used to shape students and society as a whole to reinforce and expand the influence of capitalism. Nonetheless, Heller shows how some scholars were still able to generate valuable critical knowledge'
Michael Perelman, Professor of Economics at California State University, author of The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation; Manufacturing Discontent: The Trap of Individualism in a Corporate Society; and Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology.
'Well worth a read: the survey of ideas across a range of disciplines is most impressive'
History of Education
'Should be read by anyone who is concerned with the transformation of universities into factories of commodified learning'
Counterfire
'Informed and comprehensive'
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