THE PROFESSIONAL MANAGERIAL UNIVERSITY: THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH, AND THE FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC DREAM

Abstract

This thesis close reads the novel The Adventures of Augie March alongside thefield of Critical University Studies. Contextualized with the rise of the professional managerial class and American university in the middle of the twentieth century, this critical article explores what individuality and self-actualization looks like in this epoch. The American university develops the professional managerial class and simultaneously the American university seeks to develop democratic leaders but democracy falls short of advancing an economic system that adequately promotes the self-actualization of all democratic American citizens. Augie March trenchantly sees that more university graduates does not mean democratic success. On the contrary, Augie March foresees the two insidious trends of hyper-professionalization and elitism arising with the rise of the university. I forward that Augie March advances as a counter the ideal of a “profession of the self” that means creating a system that weakens the university’s social importance so that all Americans have an equal chance at pursuing their dreams without the obstacle of pursuing a long, costly, limited university degree. In juxtaposition with the illiberal humanism of Kandice Chuh, it becomes clear that part of what is holding America back at that time and still are erroneous views of meritocracy and a sinister bootstraps ideology. This is the first research article to assess The Adventures of Augie March through a Critical University Study lens. It is also an attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of Saul Bellow who has been maligned as a conservative reactionary. These criticisms of Bellow ignore the earlier work of Saul Bellow that focused on democracy, individuality, and its tension with America’s capitalist free market ethos. This article is an attempt to spotlight Bellow’s prescience on American social democratic issues.