European Professors as Public Intellectuals

Historically, European economists, compared to their American counterpart, were more involved in public discussions of policy. In this paper it is argued that this has likely changed. The chief reasons seem to involve the European imitation of the academic ethos that is more prevalent in America. Fe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Society (New Brunswick) 2009-03, Vol.46 (2), p.110-118
Main Author: Stern, Charlotta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic profession
College professors
Discourse
Economists
Europe
Ideology
Incentives
Intellectuals
Participation
Political Science
Professors
Public intellectuals Academia Ideology Professors Europe Sweden
SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Sociology
Sweden
Symposium: Part II: Who are the Public Intellectuals?
United States of America
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Historically, European economists, compared to their American counterpart, were more involved in public discussions of policy. In this paper it is argued that this has likely changed. The chief reasons seem to involve the European imitation of the academic ethos that is more prevalent in America. Features of this academic ethos include a more formalist orientation in graduate programs and an academic incentive system wherein professional journal publication is paramount and public discourse is relatively devalued. I suggest there is an inescapable ideological dilemma in addressing the costs and benefits of professors’ neglect of public discourse. The ideological character of academics compared with our own political sensibilities affect whether we want academics to influence public discourse or not. I use the history of academics as public intellectuals in Sweden to substantiate the change, and I use new data on Swedish social science academics to see whether those who participate in public discourse tend to have certain political and social views.
ISSN:0147-2011
1936-4725
1936-4725
DOI:10.1007/s12115-008-9177-2