The Withering of the Humanities

Working in a shrinking industry is a cause of anxiety and depression. The ordinary motivations that drive human action no longer apply or, if they do, are generated out of a privation model rather than a fullness model. This is to say that the ordinary motivation for obtaining work is to obtain an income worthy of self and social respect, a sense of purpose and value to ones work, and a sense of pride in achieving these purposes skillfully and effectively. When an industry shrinks or begins to collapse, the first thing that goes is the income worthy of self and social respect. Management cuts back and prevents unnecessary expenditures on human capital. Also, because the industry is flagging, the social purpose of the industry becomes clouded and obscure. Lastly, the sense of pride in achieving these purposes disappears as well, for the individual goal of procuring a living and the social goal of providing a meaningful product or service has withered. The privation model replaces the fullness model. One works merely because one has to, because there is nothing else one can do with one's training, and one (should) expect diminishing marginal returns in all areas. The joy of work is sucked out of it, the soul gone, workers just go through the motions. Those who never figure out what is happening delude themselves into hoping that things will get better. But those who know understand that things are not going to get better make other arrangements.

Such is the state, it could be argued, of the humanities. If you look at the stagnant and declining wages of professors (of all grades) over the last ten years, the widescale employment of adjuncts (25-50% of the academic work force now), and the increasing demands for publishing (and thus the decreasing quality of much of this), and the decreasing or, in some cases, increasing enrollments in humanities, one gets a picture of a sick and blighted industry. But the question is, "how bad will it get?" and "will it improve?" A sinking tide sinks all boats. And the canary in the coal mine is the humanities...

My guess--and this is supported if you look at the bureau of labor statistics--is that the humanities will continue to be pinched off. New fields in health care will see an increase in demand for instructors, as will engineering, math, and science. But those professions, though slated to rise in the near term both in the demand for professors and in the practical work available for those trained by them, will eventually enjoy what is called "convergence" with the wages of their counterparts in India, China, and Russia.

It could very well be that ours is a society that has outgrown the use for reflection and self development. We very well may be a society that needs only entertainment, health care, and engineering. The fruit is rusted out on the vine, rotting on the vine even. Sp long humanities,your age is over (for now). After the collapse--and things will collapse-- people may once again have the leisure to study you, to think, to reflect. But that age is gone for now, eclipsed by the need to service consumer debt, to expand and accessorize the suburbs, provide expensive health care to the baby boomers,and fight on the eastern fronts for the last of the remaining oil. These are our social priorities. Lofty indeed.