ERIC Number: EJ858944
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Nov
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0195-6744
EISSN: N/A
The Expanding Polity: Theorizing the Links between Expanded Higher Education and the New Politics of the Post-1970s
Kamens, David H.
American Journal of Education, v116 n1 p99-124 Nov 2009
In this article, I argue that the expansion of higher education worldwide has had important effects in restructuring the political system of affluent democracies. A large literature has developed that describes how democracy has been "downsized" (e.g., lower voting rates). This, I argue, is one impact of expanded higher education. But there is another less-noticed effect that is just as important. Modern democratic polities have expanded so that they are now turbocharged with social movements, nongovernmental organizations, and other kinds of citizen organizations. I theorize in this article about how the expansion of higher education has produced these contradictory and perhaps temporary effects.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Democracy, Nongovernmental Organizations, Politics of Education, Educational Environment, Access to Education, Social Action, Social Change, Developed Nations, Social Environment
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A