Economism and the modern University

The last post made me angry so here is one on a local book produced from UVIC. Although the book is written in the fluffy style which usually accompanies sustainability writing I feel that some good poinst are made with regards to the idea of "place". In as much as I do not enjoy the term I find that this book makes strong arguments for the detachment from place due to economic shifts.

Economism, as defined in Planet U, refers to a paradigm in society of growth at all costs. Since many North American universities were founded in the 1960’s under the “limitless growth” ideal of economism, there currently exists an apparent physical and intellectual “detachment” of the university academy away from the very environment we seek to protect.

In the book, “Planet U”, the authors discuss the history of Economism in a chapter fittingly titled “Genealogy of an ancient edifice” (M’Gonigle et al., 2006). In this chapter, the author notes the following three distinct periods: Before the bricks and mortar, the rise of modernism, and Enter the age of economism. In each period, a strong argument is made for the correlation between the rise of economism and the detachment of the University institution from its own physical and intellectual roots or “place”, particularly since the 2nd World War.

The strong parallels of economism to this detachment from “place” create awareness that as a planet we are moving away from environmental sustainability and the original ideals made to connect Universities to learners and their community in a deep and profound way. Certainly something to think about!!!!

References

M'Gonigle, M. & Starke, J. (2006). Planet U. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. Writing and Thinking Assignment Check-list to hand in: