oa The problematic decline of the humanities in today's financial markets

This paper approaches the decline in the study and teaching of the of the humanities within the university context from a financial perspective. As humanities departments are either closed down or have their curriculum attenuated, in the obvious sense we can say that the revenue that was previously present to support such programs has been not been forthcoming. Accordingly, this paper argues that resources that could have supported the humanities have been available to the university but they have been applied elsewhere. These available resources have been applied to increasing the administration and ancillary support staff, and secondly, in support of the social sciences and increasing numbers of business and management programs. This paper links this decline to the growing financialization of the economy, the ideology of managerialism and a contemporary tradition that accords with the “procedures of the public realm of the market and of liberal individualistic politics”.