A GLANCE AT THE SPRING ISSUE OF SOCIAL POLICY: THE PAUCITY OF YOUNG LEFTIST INTELLECTUALS
Leftist intellectual work has been all but outlawed in our culture today, writes Kevin Mattson, research director at the Walt Whitman Center for Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University. Mr. Mattson says a rightward shift in American public opinion since the 1980s and downsizing in academe are to blame.
"It is not so much academia per se that squashes the potential for young left intellectuals, it is rather a current change within higher education," he says. According to Mr. Mattson, young professors are forced to teach more classes and write more articles for specialized journals, leaving "little time to write for a wider public, let alone think outside the terms set by academia." The flourishing of right-wing research organizations, supported by corporate funds, he contends, has left little room for more liberal dialogue.
"There is simply no equivalent to these institutions on the left," Mr. Mattson writes, adding that "it has nothing to do with brainpower."
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