Scott Johnson, Campusland

Excerpt

The sociology of the academy—not “academic sociology” but the study of the lifeworld of colleges and universities—should be a robust field. The transformative role of higher education since WWII cannot be denied. The GI Bill expanded access to higher education throughout the country, as similar provisions have done around the world. Unprecedented numbers of young men and women pass through the lecture halls of institutions in every country on their way to adulthood and employment. Griggs v. Duke Power (1971), which largely made employer-based tests illegal in the United States, left the bachelor’s degree the only viable signaling device for those applying to jobs. Employers now require degrees where they had never needed them before, if only to avoid falling afoul of employment law and litigation. This added to the numbers of students enrolled in higher education, for good and for ill. …