The Decline of the Humanities and the Decline of Society

Ikpe, Ibanga B.

doi:10.3167/th.2015.6214203

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Ikpe (2015) points to recent narratives noting decline in humanities by blaming corporatization of universities, described as, “infiltration of market forces into the administration of universities, especially the fact that economic rather than academic motivations have become the primary basis for decision making” (p. 53). This is seen as a “bad thing”; an insidious undermining of the Academy’s true nature.…”

Section: Five Stages Of Grievingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The traditional liberal arts academy (LAA), as an institution dedicated to “uncorrupted” knowledge is under pressure (Baker and Baldwin, 2015; Axelrod, 2014: Kimball, 2014; Ikpe, 2015). As Canadian Business professors, the authors have, over the past seven years, witnessed significant paradigm shifts in students’ programmatic choices and herein utilize our small liberal arts university as a case study exploring challenges to this archetype.…”

Section: Premisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since university candidates are either from middle-class or blue-collar backgrounds, it became increasingly important for them to be assured that they are being trained for a specific sector of the labour market, thus contributing to growing sophistication of the labour market. This has disadvantaged the humanities, especially those courses that do not seek to prepare students for life within a specific career (Ikpe, 2015, p. 52)…”

Section: Disruptions (Known-through-unknown)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The nature and extent of foresight-infused strategy: a case study highlighting the liberal arts academy’s future move from traditional education

Klakurka

Irwin²

2020

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Purpose Over the past 80 years within a small, liberal arts (LA) Canadian university, significant paradigm shifts in students’ programmatic choices have occurred reflecting student preference for business-related programs versus traditional LA offerings. Grounded in strategic foresight (SF) practices, this paper aims to investigate drivers of declining traditional LA enrolment that are currently a boon for management studies, positing implications for long-term futures of the LA Academy. Design/methodology/approach This paper lays out foundational research exploring phenomena in the academy, including disruptive forces, and explores how SF can clarify and shape long-term choices. Seeking to answer what paradigm-shifting forces really mean for the future of the academy, a case study approach is used to interpret disruptions to a Canadian institution facing present challenges and an uncertain future. Scenarios are developed for the broader academy using an environmental understanding to better inform predictive actions envisioned in academic institutional future planning. Findings The outcome of this research, including four scenarios, will be used to better understand student and stakeholder motivations informing future academic planning. As institutional paradigms appear resistant to change, these foresight-inspired findings are valuable considerations for institutional administrators, particularly those at stressed organizations facing unsettling realities. Originality/value The case study identifies that for the LA Academy, myriad future unknowns exist, including its continued existence in today’s form. Institutions are generally unresponsive to the precursors of future change and are not systematically exploring future options.

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Section: Five Stages Of Grievingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Premisementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Disruptions (Known-through-unknown)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The nature and extent of foresight-infused strategy: a case study highlighting the liberal arts academy’s future move from traditional education

Klakurka

Irwin²

2020

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“…Residing tenuously at the crossroads of business, public policy, health science, and medicine (to name a few), healthcare management struggles to locate itself in the broader ecosystem of academia [ 27 ]. In an intriguing parallel, the humanities—once the intellectual heart of the university and the center of liberal arts education—have also experienced a recent homelessness of sorts, displaced by tectonic shifts rippling through not just academia but the whole of contemporary society [ 28 ]. The difference, of course, is that healthcare management is often perceived as part of the reason for the humanities’ demise, poaching students who might otherwise pursue an interest in philosophy, literature, or the arts with the lure of a so-called “job-ready” degree [ 29 ].…”

Section: Understanding the Lived Experiences Of Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare Management and the Humanities: An Invitation to Dialogue

Gerard

2021

IJERPH

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Throughout the fields of medicine and organization studies, there are growing indications of the value of the humanities for enriching scholarship, education, and practice. However, the field of healthcare management has yet to consider the promise of the humanities for illuminating its particular domain. This perspective paper explores how the humanities might begin to play a role in healthcare management by focusing on three broad areas: (1) understanding the lived experiences of management, (2) offsetting the “tyranny of metrics”, and (3) confronting rather than avoiding anxiety. While preliminary in presentation, these areas are intended to facilitate wider consideration of the humanities in healthcare management and to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue. The paper also identifies actionable approaches that might be derived from such a dialogue, including substantiating critical healthcare management scholarship, collaborating with humanities educators to design novel curricula, proposing alternatives to unduly circumscribed performance targets and competency assessments, creating case studies of formative experiences of practicing healthcare managers, and advancing guidelines for better managing anxiety and its concomitant stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue in healthcare organizations. The paper concludes by discussing the potential risks of incorporating the humanities into healthcare management, while also offering a prospective synthesis from an interdisciplinary approach.

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“…Perhaps the value that is placed on these disciplines gives the misconception that they are more essential than the humanities, hence the perceptions of the students in my class. Research has shown a steady decline in enrolments, shrinking job prospects, and growing condescension for the field of humanities (Ikype, 2015). In 2013, Harvard University showed a decline in Humanities from 21% to 17% over the period 2012-2013, while an article published in New York Times, showed that graduates in the Humanities plummeted from 165 to 62 between 1991-2013 (Berube & Ruth, 2015).…”

Section: Introduction 11 Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%