<DIV>Obviously, as a PhD and former academic, I do have a dog in this fight, but I'll say a couple things anyway: (1) junior faculty are anything but pampered, and work harder and longer hours (for less pay!) than possibly any group of white collar workers I know; certainly at least as hard (in terms of sheer hours) as junior associates at big law firms. Consequently I have no patience whatsoever for the Steve McGraw line, echoed here in milder form, that suggests that this particular group of terrorized wage slaves subsists on whipped cream and cherries. </DIV>
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<DIV>(2) PhDs and academics are a fairly apolitical bunch, but I don't know whether they are moreso than any other group, as Doug suggests. Their indoctrination in terms of their work is intensely individualistic, but their politics, at least in the humanities, law, and some of the social sciences, is left of center (meaning averaging liberal Democrat), and moreso at elite institutions. My friend in marketing tells me that marketing people (at least) in biz schools, btw, are like this too. It is probably true that there are proportionally more radicals on campuses than elsewhere.</DIV>
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<DIV>(3) Chuck seemed to resent my implication, as he took it to be, that you must be smart if you have a PhD, with the suggestion, maybe, that you're not if you don't. Actually, if he read my post carefully. I adduced my friend's PhD as evidence of her having a lot of education. It is, however, true, that in me experience, having a PhD from a top school (as normally regaded) correlates with being smart as conventionally understood. It doesn't mean you're wise, or nice, or progressive, or that your existence is not a blot on humanity's record, but normally they don't let you out of Berkeley or Harvard with a PhD unless you have some brains. I do know some exceptions. It doesn't work the other way. There are lots of very smart people who have no education, or only an AB (I am married to one), etc.</DIV>
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<DIV>jks<BR><BR><B><I>Doug Henwood <dhenwood@panix.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Jeffrey Fisher wrote:<BR><BR>>On Thursday, June 5, 2003, at 07:31 PM, dredmond@efn.org wrote:<BR>><BR>>>Quoting Chuck0 <CHUCK@MUTUALAID.ORG>:<BR>>><BR>>>>In my experience, people who spend too many years in<BR>>>>college (i.e. Ph.Ds) are highly indoctrinated and VERY out of touch with<BR>>>>the news and popular culture.<BR>>><BR>>>Hardly. Universities are some of the most politicized communities <BR>>>around, with<BR>>>demos, speakers, cultural stuff happening which is censored or <BR>>>repressed by the<BR>>>strip mall insanity called Bananamerica. The US oiligarchy's war on higher<BR>>>education is the War of the Machines on Zion.<BR>><BR>>i have to agree. i certainly knew apolitical people in grad school, <BR>>but also many many people who knew the score and from whom i learned <BR>>a great deal. many of these people were in history (latin american <BR>>studies, esp) or american studies, but even in my own (in many <BR>>respects retro/reactionary) medieval studies program. it was in grad <BR>>school that i was radicalized, myself. indeed, you might say that it <BR>>was grad school that radicalized me (insofar as i'm radical), <BR>>although i'd like to think it would have happened anyway.<BR><BR>Yeah, it's kind of a cliche that academics are pampered and <BR>apolitical, but many aren't, and compared to whom? Who's more active? <BR>Cab drivers? Telemarketers? Computer programmers?<BR><BR>Doug<BR>___________________________________<BR>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE><p><hr SIZE=1>
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