The Socjourn A New Media Journal of Sociology and SocietyAcademic communities and higher learning facilities like universities are the places where great knowledge is born and passed on with the purpose of ‘enlightening’ our societies for the better. Or is it? Aren't academies and universities about socialization into The System and indoctrination into ideas that support hierarchy, exclusion, etc. According to Anna Brix Thomsen, its both. Universities are useful and do make a [technological] improvement in things, but usually only for the primary benefit of the elite. Trickle down benefits there may be, but its ultimately about maintaining the status quo and further enriching those who are already with privilege.
Academic communities and higher learning facilities like universities are the places where great knowledge is born and passed on with the purpose of ‘enlightening’ our societies for the better.It is where the great thinkers of our world has been shaped and formed into the greatness, making the world prosper and develop through science, philosophy and all fields of knowledge and technology. It is the world where great men, since the days of Plato have sought and thought the solutions that would create the best world, the best societies and the best Man.
The academic world is a special world; the world of Academia – the world of reason and objectivity, where freedom of thought transcends the shackles of survival and the bounds of religion and politics. Galileo was one of its martyrs, the great thinking, and in all but different ways, so was Oppenheimer. In the days of Plato, the man who could think the best was the man that could take civilization to a new level. The legacy lives on today with universities being the hatching ground for all great men, be they politicians, scientists or doctors. These are the experts of our world; the one’s we look to for answers about the Universe, about today’s economy, about avoiding cancer and even about the meaning of life. We educate ourselves to BA’s, MA’s and doctoral degrees with the purpose of getting a head (pun intended) and we go through years of writing papers and reports with our eyes fixed on the microscopic detail, with our heads in the books, in classes, attending seminars and lectures until we become something more than we were when we started: The Academic scholar, the intellectual’s – The Elite.
When I was working my way through the years towards the time of deciding upon a future career, I deliberately chose not to go to university. At the time I was rebelling against the shackles of The System and I believed that were I to venture towards a university degree, I would be soiled and spoiled by the academic world and by the knowledge that I feared would make me stuck up and arrogant, because that was what I was seeing in people who had been through the limbo of college and university – they came out as different people, believing they were more than the rest, speaking in a secret code that only they could understand. In the end, I ended up exactly where I was pre-programmed to be: At university – that was what my parents had done, what my sister had done and what they had all wanted me to do; become smart, become something, making something of myself.
Recently I attended a seminar where an esteemed German theorist claimed that it was through thinking more and better that we would be able to rip the veil of delusion that is the cause of inequality in this world (Marx would have turned in his grave). He had a romantic notion about universities being the places where peace and respect is born, where knowledge makes the student become self-reflected and thus able to empathize with others. He claimed that it was through the enlightenment of consciousness (he was a sociologist, not a new-age guru), that we could stop social inequality. I asked him if he really thought that thinking was the solution to stopping social inequality and suggested that it might be problematic to simply think and not act. He responded in a way I can only describe as unable to compute, so effectively designed as a great thinker, that he could not even fathom the concept of action being required in stopping social inequality.
I hear professors talk about ‘society’ and never once have I heard any of them state that what is tacitly implied in this word is ‘The Western society’. When I have asked about it, they agree that it is problematic and go on to saying that globalization sure is a hot topic these days. They say that there is no more hard labor, no class division, that we live in a knowledge society of freedom and innovation, but fail to mention that the rest of the world is doing the dirty work, while we wash our hands with Eco-friendly products. I see academic and intellectual people using long and complicated words as synonyms, instead of common words that everyone can understand, for no apparent reason. It is the language of the scientific method I am told, the language of objectivity and empiric proof and therefore it is the language through which all conclusions made about this world becomes valid and true.
As I am studying the classics of sociology and philosophy, I often find myself surprised that someone three hundred or eighty years ago was able to state the obvious and that we now haven’t gotten further than to re-produce the same words in new books and that we seemingly not have learned a single lesson. I often find myself asking: what if all of these great thinkers are all right in their theories and conclusions about the world? Often when I read I can agree with all the theorists, even if they are conflicting, because each of them has a point, but from a specific view or corner of the world. If that is so, is truth or Reality then not multidimensional and thus made up by every single being in this world, all the time changing as we change, and therefore irrelevant as a philosophical project or discussion? Bernard Poolman once said that ‘There is no truth, only denial of what is Here’ – so while we philosophize about concepts like peace or love, war is as real as it has ever been and it is lived whether people like it or not – not only thought.
When something is invented and created for the purpose of practicality, it holds no status or value besides how much someone can make off it on the market, while academic knowledge is valued and honored in itself, as though it was the holy grail of man’s accomplishments in this world. It seems that the head is the master and the hands, feet and body, the slave. Knowledge is seductively and endlessly spinning in on itself, like the magic of a kaleidoscope. But we forget that it is our hands that turn it, that it is our eyes that look through it – that it is merely pieces of glass reflected by light and that the magic we put into it – is a mental projection.
Universities are where What is Best for All is supposed to be thought and developed. It is where we are supposed to come up with Solutions to stop social and economic inequality, to unite people, to create awareness and reflection – But the academic world is the Elite’s world, excluding everyone that does not understand the academic language, including only those fortunate enough to have money. It is where we are seduced by the value and authority we have placed in knowledge.
Higher education holds no validity if it is not producing results that makes the world a better place. This is after all the whole point, isn’t it? Or is the point to reproduce the Elite, to make sure that the Have’s still get, that the intellectuals are stocked, inbred and isolated on an island of good intentions, but without a grip on the Reality, where for many, every day is a living hell?
We could claim that the difference between an educated person in the developed world and an uneducated person in the developing world is that the first is smarter and thus more civilized. But if We were to spend every moment of every day trying to stay alive, we would have little time or reason to consider ‘enlightening’ our consciousness. The severe exploitation of animals and humans is also a result of the educated western world, where the smarter we get, the crueler our methods of turning life into profit become. All brought to you, the live studio audience, the masses whose human rights have been reduced to consumer rights, whose democratic influence is as powerful as getting to choose between organic or regular eggs. And the academics are the one’s developing the justification that we need to keep our moral balance in check, feeding us expert opinions on the lack of sentinel awareness in animals or that an Indian does not require a higher living standard because he is used to less.
The academic world is not a place of education and development – it is a place that reproduces inequality, justified as the place where these problems can be solved – producing theory upon theory by people who have never had their fingers in the dirt. Academic Education is a waste of space, mind, money and time – if it is not applied towards making the world a better place for everyone. From the days of Plato this was the whole point with educating ourselves – to make ourselves the best we can be.
It is not through big thinking and big words that a difference is made in this world – it is through practical, sustainable Solutions that are most often simplistic and straight forward. Small children are great examples, saying that war is stupid and not understanding why mom has to work for money and not play all day. We require solutions that does not exclude some for the benefit of others, solutions that benefit everyone and makes no one special or more or less than another, simply because; we’re not.
And it is not because we are not capable of actually coming up with these solutions, just look at the development in sustainable energy, in water purification and medicine to name a few. We simply do not prioritize the knowledge and actions that places what is best for Everyone, at a physical, practical level, first – because knowledge in itself have become the grand prize and the token of greatness; we think therefore we are – Really?
Imagine if all education was focused upon working together towards making this world a better place for everyone. Imagine if we were able to focus on creating the best solutions in any given field or subject, without the competition between egos over who knows the biggest words or has the best memory. Imagine a world with Equal Money for All – where Everyone had an Equal Right to a Dignified Life, where Everyone had an Equal right to Equal education and that knowledge was merely a tool used to create what is Best for All.
Is that too much to ask for? I think not.
Sociological Enlightenment
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Very interesting. I thought I’d share this documentary snippet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufZix3J3S1g
Jared Diamond talks of how societies choose (unwittingly) to collapse. William McDonough with the Cradle to Cradle concept also talks about choices and provides ‘Love of all children of all species for all time’ as a postive conscious choice.
With goals or missions in place (for example profit for businesses) humans have achieved amazing things.
So what would happen if all groups, families and individuals followed a mission of ‘Love of all children of all species for all time’?
I see your point Chris and at the same time some clarification is required – because the word ‘love’ is easy to say and easy to feel, but it is clearly not as easy to Live as a Living Fact of Life. What I mean by it is that Real Love would be to actually, actively work for Giving Everyone the same basic Rights as a start, to make sure that Everyone has a right to a Dignified Life – Just ‘loving’ them simply isn’t enough. My perspective comes from many years of spiritual practice, specifically focused on ‘loving’ All beings and sending out this love as a way of ‘spreading positivity’ – But I Realized that it was not real and that my feeling was a polarity point of the experience of despair and shame towards what we have Accepted and Allowed this Earth and ourselves to become. The point was hope and meaning and behind that a silent justification of what is going on in the world – Real Love is to Realize ourselves for what we are – that we all are the one’s who has Allowed this world to exist the way it is and that it is only by changing ourselves, in our actual practical and physical Living Reality that we can prove that Love to be real.
To me that requires firstly Accepting that I am Equally participating in upholding the Systems of this World that Allows Abuse to continue – and thus find the Solutions to stop Accepting the Abuse, within as without.
How many of us can say that we would Give up ourselves for any Living Creature in this world? How many of us can say that we actually Stand Equal with the animals of this Earth? With the people living in grim poverty and starvation? Would you be willing to swap your Life with someone starving in North Korea or Sudan if that is what it took?
See – this is the point where good intentions becomes foul play, because by having good intentions we get to sleep through the night, but nothing in the World Changes before we start taking Active Responsibility for ourselves and what is happening in the world. That means that our personal lives is of no relevance – That means that our personal needs are of no relevance – Are we Willing to Give ourselves up for What is Best for All?
For many people that notion will spark a fear and a incentive to fight for our right to have ‘personal freedom’ – but we forget that that personal freedom is only able to exist at the expense of someone else’s misery and downfall – we forget that that personal freedom is not real in the first place, because it is restricted and limited in so many ways that we are not even aware of.
The point is for us to start Standing Equal to what we have Allowed ourselves and this world to be, for all of us to start Living by Principle instead of personal preference as that is a luxury reserved for the Elite of this world – We are the Elite whether we like it or not – so let’s use our power to read, write, create and influence in recognition that those with nothing have no choice – while we do.
Thank you. I am a graduate student studying communication and frequently contemplate this issue. I think more dialogue about the issue should occur. I look forward to more post similar to this.
Do you not think that your call to action in creating an imagined world of equality is also a product of one of these theories of university education which you denigrate in your article? Before action can be taken toward any goal, what is required is a thorough analysis of the situation at hand. This will require thinking, not acting. After this task is complete (and it is not), you must subsequently be able to define the goal toward which you would like to steer society as well as to justify that goal as a proper goal. Given that your goal seems to be equality for all, in all aspects, the next step would be to formulate a process of transition from the current situation to the desired one– a plan of action. This will require an immense amount of interpretation, theory, data-gathering, statistical analysis, historical considerations, etc. (e.g. consider Karl Marx’s more than 3000 page collection of volumes known as Das Kapital). Before beginning work toward global equality, we ought to consider its feasibility, desirability, and complications it may bring– questions which, by the way, are being asked and answered inside the University (consider, for example, the work of analytic marxists such as G.A. Cohen in “Self-ownership, Freedom. and Equality”). I agree with you that the University has a socializing function, and that success in the university is at least contingent upon learning the language-games of academia, however it also functions to open up a space for the dedication of oneself to inquiry– a space which is not generally provided outside of the University. And as a final consideration: when is success outside of the University going to be devoid of the socializing function of the University, or of its criterion of “learning the lingo”, apart from living a hermitic life?
Hi Tood – When I (and most people) were a young child, my basic outlook on the world situation was that of: “Why are people starving, when there is enough food?” – “War is stupid, why can’t we simply be friends?”
Thus my perspective was that of Simplicity and Common Sense – without moral judgments towards those creating wars: I saw the World and the people within it, as Equal. Therefore the call to action – based on the basic Principle of Equality is not an ideological conception constructed in the Academic class- room. Unfortunately we have as adults, covered and sugar-coated ourselves in fancy words and knowledge to hide from ourselves within ignorance and abdication of Self-Responsibility – which Actually for any Child, is Common Sense. Thus – we will back up Self-Deception with Self-Righteous regurgitation of useless knowledge simply to postpone the Moment, where we literally have to ACT – where we Actually have to Give up this armor of theories upon theories and see the World and Ourselves for what it is. It is plain to see, even within the theories of Social Life: Common Sense Perspectives that All can agree on is being reproduced, mutated an twisted into oblivion, even though they always say the same: That to Change the World, we require to Change Ourselves first – because whatever We are, is what the World is too. I have heard professors regurgitating the glory of knowledge and thinking as enlightenment and cure to the disease of ignorance and inequality. Yet – we see none of those professors or students Changing anything in their own Participation. Instead the regurgitation of knowledge is used as the justification for NOT ACTING and thus being reproduced and recycled with every new batch of students in hope of Changing the World.
We do not require anymore “thorough analysis as thinking” of the issues at hand – The sustainable solutions to the World’s problems ARE invented – we are simply not Applying them. If every Child can see the Common Sense of war being stupid and not even blaming those that create war, but simply suggests for us to stop it – it is clearly not assisting to create long theories upon the impracticality of War. It is basic Common Sense: 1 + 1 = 2. If the 1 eats all the food, the other 1 will starve and the 2 will exist in inequality – which is Clearly not what is Best for All. This requires not Socratic or dogmatic systems of approach – It does however require Self-Honesty of each of us as re-educating ourselves to take Self-Responsibility for what is Here.
The plan of action towards Global Equality is to create a Global Political Party based upon the Principle of Equality, where each commits themselves to Stand Self-Responsible in Common Sense Equality and do what is Best for All – at a Practical, Physical level – in All ways. This we are doing with the proposal of the Equal Money System, which of course requires thorough planning – but within the Principle of Equality as what is Best for All, no ideological discussions are necessary, which will give us room to investigate and research Practical, Real Life Solutions.
Even though the tradition of the universities place themselves within the “honor” of the objective inquiry (aka truth producing business) – this is in Fact not so and the Space of universities as learning facilities could be utilized for so much more fruitful and practical purposes – not simply to reproduce knowledge for it to be reproduced. Activism without Practicality as well as knowledge without Application, is useless…
Anna-
I always look forward to reading your articles. This one was written so cleverly and so truthfully and I am excited that there are people like you living on this planet. It gives me hope that there are doers (like you) and not just those who create yet another lovely set of documents full of well intended sentiments that are never held to. Ie Universal Declaration of Human Rights comes to mind.
Nice job-
Bravo bravo bravo!!!