Tenure for Socrates: A Study in the Betrayal of the American Professor [Hardcover]

Jon Huer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0897892445 | ISBN-13: 978-0897892445 | Publication Date: December 30, 1990

In this provocative criticism of the contemporary American professoriate, Jon Huer argues that tenure has created a kind of academic stupor in which those who have it no longer live up to the ideals of their profession. In Huer's view, the institution of tenure has created an economic sinecure, rendering the tenured professor irrelevant to the society that sustains him or her. The typical tenured career, Huer asserts, often degenerates into intellectual boredom, the routine publication of a series of narrowly specialized research papers, a pervasive dissatisfaction, and a search for monetary and other rewards outside the university. Huer proposes that the time has come to reexamine the issues surrounding tenure in an attempt to determine the best ways to reinvigorate the professoriate and reestablish a fruitful connection between academic and nonacademic society. Divided into four sections, Huer's work is written throughout in a refreshingly nonacademic style. He begins by examining the institution of academic tenure and its relevance given current market realities. Subsequent sections explore the impact of tenure on issues of academic freedom, on the relationship between the professor and the larger society, and on the professor and his or her career. Huer demonstrates that, in general, those who have tenure do not need it, and those who need it do not have it. In pursuit of tenure, professors are forced to produce meaningless scholarship relevant only to their specialized colleagues and immediate career goals. Tenured professors, on the other hand, far from using their academic freedom in service of truth and society, help perpetuate the academic insulation and irrelevance. Certain to spark controversy and debate, Tenure for Socrates serves as a much needed reevaluation of both the role of the American professoriate and the impact of tenure on that role.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A very sobering and grim tale....It is a call to arms and an ice cold shower for sleeping academics. No jabs, just left and right hooks for sixteen rounds. This is not a book that will win [the author] a lot of friends, but he may well influence more than he thinks possible.”–John Van Maanen Massachusetts Institute of Technology

About the Author

JON HUER is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Bergin & Garvey (December 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897892445
• ISBN-13: 978-0897892445
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,252,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jon Huer received his Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA in 1974 and is the author of a dozen books, including THE DEAD END (1977, which TIME Magazine's Lance Morrow called "an important and often brilliant book," Aug. 20, 1980), THE WAGES OF SIN (1991), TENURE FOR SOCRATES (1990), THE GREAT ART HOAX (1992), THE FALLACIES OF SOCIAL SCIENCE (1989), MARCHING ORDERS (1988), THE POST-HUMAN SOCIETY (2005), and THE GREEN PALMERS. Two more books of social criticism, AMERICAN PARADISE and AUSCHWITZ, USA, have been released in 2010. Most of these titles are available at Amazon.com, or Barnesandnoble.com. Dr. Huer last taught at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, where he was Associate Professor of Sociology. He joined UMUC in 1994 and is currently Collegiate Professor of Sociology.

Customer Reviews

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Be a Marxist with your Academic Freedom?, May 14, 2007

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This review is from: Tenure for Socrates: A Study in the Betrayal of the American Professor (Hardcover)

This book was going to be 3 stars for being kind of boring and not full of facts. It dropped down to 2 for having a punchline that says we should all use our academic freedom as professors to preach Marxism as the ideal. Perhaps the author did not get tenure, and was someone who needs and deserves it (according to him), while those who do not have wild ideas have tenure at his school (UNC-Wilmington) but don't need this tenure. What a waste of my time reading this not too subtle tribute to Marxism. On the other side, a very conservative book is ProfScam, however ProfScam at least has interesting facts about shortcomings in tenure, publishing, and professors running from teaching. Avoid Tenure for Socrates. Nice title for a book that is not truthful about its motives until about Chapter 12 out of 13.