The New Treason of the Intellectuals

The University is under threat. For forty years, this indispensable democratic institution has been systematically betrayed by governments and the political class, who have redirected it from its proper social and cultural functions through a relentless programme of financialisation. With each year the situation gets worse - decisive action is essential. Taking his cue from Julien Benda's classic polemical essay of 1927, Thomas Docherty exposes the forces behind modern University 'reform'. He demonstrates that the sector has been politicised and now works explicitly to advance a market-fundamentalist ideology. Human values are measured by money and wealth is mistaken for 'the good'; social, cultural and political corruption all follow. The University's leadership has therefore become complicit in an even more dangerous betrayal of society at large, as an ever-widening wedge is driven between ordinary citizens and the self-interest of the privileged and wealthy. It is no wonder that 'experts' are in the dock. A century ago, Benda accused intellectuals of treason: their thinking had been politicised, polluted by a nationalism that could only culminate in war. We continue to live in the aftermath of this situation. By endorsing an ideology of 'competition', intellectuals have established a neo-Hobbesian war of all against all as the new cornerstone of societies. In light of this, the intellectual and the University have an urgent duty to extend democracy and social justice. Looking to the future, Docherty concludes the book with seven hypotheses towards a manifesto and calls on intellectuals everywhere to assist in the survival of the species.