American idyll : academic antielitism as cultural critique / Catherine Liu.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: populist idylls, cultural politics -- The problem with the meritocracy -- Ordinary Americans, average students -- The curious cult of religious practicality -- Against all experts: no experience necessary -- The new age of cultural studies: crisis in the PMC -- Conclusion.

Print version record.

℗¡A trenchant critique of failure and opportunism across the political spectrum, American Idyll argues that social mobility, once a revered hallmark of American society, has ebbed, as higher education has become a mechanistic process for efficient sorting that has more to do with class formation than anything else. Academic freedom and aesthetic education are reserved for high-scoring, privileged students and vocational education is the only option for economically marginal ones. Throughout most of American history, antielitist sentiment was reserved for attacks against an entrenched aristocracy.

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