Over the past few years, there have been more and more rumblings about the need for research conducted in the humanities and social sciences to be “relevant” to the general public (or taxpayers, as the debate is often framed). The recession has made this demand even more pressing. Mark Taylor was getting at that a little bit in his NYT op-ed. But this also came up recently in Canada when the federal budget earmarked some SSHRC money for “business-related degrees.”
Generally, my stomach turns when I read stories involving universities becoming more “relevant,” because that’s usually code for “commodified.” Because it’s not always immediately self-evident why certain strains of research are important, social sciences and humanities disciplines are often held up for ridicule and scrutiny (remember when Frank magazine used to mock the titles of papers presented at the Learneds?). In turn, the fear is that if the mandates of funding bodies and universities change in response to this need for knowledge to be immediately applicable to something, the role universities play will be devalued. The research that grad students and faculty produce will be held up to a commercial standard (rather than the standard of peer review), i.e. one in which studying Chaucer is much less important than producing widgets.
But I also know that scholars secretly wonder about the value of their work by wondering how useful it is. Generally, though, it’s only the former academics I talk to who admit to having thoughts like, “Is my work really useful?” When asked of oneself (rather than having the question posed to you by a funding body with an explicit policy mandate of utility behind it), this question usually means, “How is my work manifesting itself in the world?” Or more to the point, “Is my work making a difference?”
For the people who have left academia, the answer is, typically, no. What I’ve found consistently in my interviews with former academics is that there is a desire to connect with people that goes beyond the standard confines of an academic career–even a wildly successful one. For leavers, the number of articles published in peer-reviewed journals ceases to matter at the point where connecting with people (beyond the journal’s narrow audience) becomes more important.
And yet, there is still a vigorous denial about the need for scholars to feel like they’re making a contribution to society. They don’t need to feel that way because they’re making a contribution to scholarship. But for those of you who are thinking about leaving, is the desire to make a difference in the world a factor motivating your decision? Or is being useful just being a sellout?
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