I'm constantly confused. I go to university. I study Anthropology and History. I'm not the best student, but I try and do my readings. I'm constantly told in some nominally progressive places online that I'm living in some sort of leftist alternate reality, that doesn't reflect the consensus on a range of issues. Well, Marx is in the syllabus, and Hayek isn't. Is that unusual?
I know that an awful lot of people are never going to, whether because of interest or class or a whole range of reasons, be able to do an arts degree. I may not be able to finish one myself. Nonetheless, it seems weird that I'm constantly being told that whatever my lecturers show me is a fringe leftist position.
Anth 1001 taught us the labour theory of value. A week where we don't read at least one perspective on an issue which is inclusive of Marxian perspectives would be an odd one. Class is never to be ignored, but always considered as part of a holistic approach to understanding anything. Nonetheless, only a couple of lecturers identify openly as Marxists. Certainly idealism is rampant throughout the discipline.
History units are slightly less leftist, but if only because we spend more time on issues like empire, colony and race than class. Nonetheless, it certainly seems like it'd be difficult to get through a history degree without being exposed to a number of arguments about the nature of history, and whether class conflict is a dominant force.
Are my lecturers bizarrely Marxist? I can link my uni and faculty pages to anyone who could offer specific advice, but I'm relucatant to advertise.
It just has always seemed confusing. At one point I sort of assumed that people who'd experienced similar things might have a similar understanding of the world. This was a mistake. So what is the default level of Marxism in an arts degree?
The conservative line is that arts students are all filthy commies, so when I got to uni and there seemed to be a core of truth, I assumed that it was true everywhere. Well.
I tend to be more of a commie than my professors, but they also don't seem to be critical of that tendency in me. If anything, they seem happy to have radical leftists in their classes. A lot are signed on to BDS pledges and are union members, but I'd not call most comrade.
So, is it unusual for an arts degree to provide an introduction into Marxist theories and left-wing perspectives? Is cultural anthropology dominated by left-wing theorists? Is the study of history elsewhere not done in such a manner as to consider class relevant? Why am I constantly feeling like I'm bringing up wild conspiracy theories when I'm barely doing more than rephrase what my lecturers tell me? |
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